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STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL 
PSYCHOLOGY 

9 

BY 
ELSIE  OSCHRIN  BREGMAX 


Submitted  in  p  ^rtial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements  for  the 

degree  «^f  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  la  the  Faculty  of 

i'hil'  :Ma  University 


REPRINTFO  FPOM 

ARCHIVES  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 


CD 
CO 
** 
C\J 


EXCHANGE 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL 
PSYCHOLOGY 


BY 
ELSIE  OSCHRINlBREGMAN 


Submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements  for  the 

degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  in  the  Faculty  of 

Philosophy,  Columbia  University 


REPRINTTD  FROM 

ARCHIVES  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

No.  59 


1922 


3.!.?,;. 


The  writer  takes  very  gladly  this  opportunity  to  acknowl- 
edge her  debt  for  much  help  and  kindness  to  her  teachers, 
Professors  H.  L.  Hollingworth,  R.  S.  Woodworth  and  E.  L. 
Thorndike. 

Professor  Hollingworth,  her  first  teacher,  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  her  original  interest  in  the  subject  of  these  studies, 
and  his  example,  help,  encouragement  and  very  constant  kind- 
ness have  been  a  great  factor  in  the  progress  of  the  work.  To 
Mr.  Percy  S.  Straus  and  Mr.  A.  S.  Donaldson  the  writer  is  in- 
debted for  the  opportunity  to  carry  out  the  work  herein  re- 
ported, and  to  Professor  A.  T.  Poff enberger  for  having  kindly 
read  and  corrected  part  of  the  manuscript. 

Finally,  the  many  good  people  who  were  subjects  in  these 
experiments  should  not  go  unthanked  for  their  patient  per- 
formance of  tasks  that  were  often  strange. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword     4 

Introduction    5 

PARTl 

Tests  for  General  Ability 9 

PART  II 
Chapter  I 

Tests  for  Special  Abilities 25 

Chapter  II 

The  Negative  Correlations - 49 

Chapter  III 

The  Psychologist  in  Industry 55 

APPENDIX 

Scale  1    57 

Scale  1A   59 

Bibliography 59 

Vita  60 


FOREWORD 

In  April  of  the  year  1919  the  writer  was  employed  by  a  de- 
partment store  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  experiment  in  its 
organization  with  psychological  tests.  From  the  consequent 
investigations  and  use  of  tests  these  studies  have  been  drawn. 

At  the  time  when  this  work  was  under  way  almost  no  work 
of  a  similar  character  had  been  undertaken.  Very  little  ap- 
peared in  the  literature  that  bore  directly  on  the  problem,  and 
organizations  in  which  psychological  tests,  adequately  evalu- 
ated and  properly  administered,  functioned  with  any  degree 
of  importance,  were  hardly  to  be  found. 

Few  of  the  many  forms  of  tests  which  are  now  readily 
purchased  in  any  quantity  were  then  obtainable.  Official  and 
detailed  information  of  the  United  States  Army  testing  was 
not  yet  available.  Other  information  on  tests  for  and  the 
testing  of  normal  adults  was  very  scant. 

These  circumstances,  together  with  other  conditions,  more 
or  less  unavoidable,  under  which  the  studies  were  made,  have 
operated  to  place  certain  limitations  upon  them. 

The  studies  are  not  laboratory  studies.  They  come  out  of 
the  midst  of  a  very  busy  industry.  They  were  in  consequence 
subject  to  restrictions,  exercised  not  only  by  the  factors  of 
time  and  cost,  but  also  certain  other  factors,  inherent  in  the 
situation  of  the  youngest  of  the  sciences  trying  to  work  out 
its  usefulness  in  an  environment  traditionally  and  actually 
BO  foreign  to  it. 

The  writer  believes  that  notwithstanding  their  shortcom- 
ings the  studies  have  a  certain  significance  and  usefulness,  and 
in  this  belief  they  are  presented  to  the  reader  in  this  volume. 


Studies  in  Industrial  Psychology 


INTRODUCTION 

In  this  country  and  at  this  time  the  term  industrial  psychol- 
ogy connotes  chiefly  the  use  of  psychological  tests  for  the  pre- 
diction of  ability,  general  or  special,  native  or  acquired,  with 
a  view  to  the  most  effective  placement  of  individuals  within  an 
industrial  organization  upon  the  basis  of  such  knowledge. 

The  title  of  this  paper  uses  the  term  in  this  special  sense, 
since  the  paper  treats  of  tests  for  general  and  special  abilities. 
The  latter  are  specifically  the  abilities  of  salesclerk  and  cleri- 
cal worker  in  a  large  department  store. 

This  work  was  begun  early  in  the  year  1919.  At  that  time 
the  literature  was  almost  barren  of  information  bearing  on 
the  use  of  selective  tests  in  industry.  There  are  today,  indeed, 
no  great  host  of  such  studies,  but  there  is  gradually  accumu- 
lating a  body  of  information  on  the  selection  of  workers  by 
mental  tests.  New  tests,  more  particularly  those  that  measure 
personality  traits  rather  than  general  intelligence,  are  being 
constructed  and  the  technique  of  evaluating  the  tests  is  un- 
dergoing an  interesting  development. 

In  1913  Miinsterberg  (1)  published  his  Psychology  and  In- 
dustrial Efficiency,  in  which  appeared  the  account  of  his  ex- 
periments with  motor  men,  marine  officers  and  telephone  op- 
erators. 

Three  years  later,  in  1916,  appeared  Professor  H.  L.  Hol- 
lingworth's  (2)  Vocational  Psychology,  which  treats  of  the 
problems  and  methods  involved  in  vocational  guidance  and 
which  summarizes  the  work  up  to  that  time  by  Lough,  Lahy 
and  McComas,  with  telephone  operators,  commercial  students 
and  typists. 

The  Journal  of  Applied  Psychology  was  begun  in  1917.  In 
that  year  there  appeared  in  this  Journal  articles  by  Burtt 

(1)  Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  Psychology  &  Industrial  Efficiency,  1913. 

(2)  Rolling-worth,  H.  L.,  Vocational  Psychology,  1916. 


6  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

(3),  Kogers  (4)  and  Scott  (5),  each  of  which  was  concerned 
with  the  evaluation  of  tests  for  vocational  guidance  or  selec- 
tion. 

In  the  following  year  Flanders  (6)  reports  an  investigation 
in  an  express  company  and  Oschrin  (7)  in  a  department  store. 
In  the  same  year  Link  (8)  records  an  investigation  in  a  muni- 
tions factory.  All  three  articles  treat  of  the  correlation  of  tests 
with  ability  as  workers.  Flanders  found  no  significant  cor- 
relation— Link  and  Oschrin  found  positive  correlations  be- 
tween certain  tests  and  their  criteria. 

During  the  year  1919  there  were  published  two  articles  on 
trade  tests,  one  by  Toops  and  Chapman  (9),  the  other  by  E. 
S.  Robinson  (10)  ;  an  investigation  by  Henmon  (11)  on  tests 
for  aptitude  for  flying,  and  reports  by  Thurstone  (12)  on  tests 
for  telegraphers  and  for  office  clerks.  Link's  (13)  Employ- 
ment Psychology  was  published  in  the  same  year. 

Burtt  (14)  in  1920  published  an  account  of  a  very  thorough 
investigation  carried  out  upon  operatives  and  clerical  workers 
in  a  Canadian  rubber  factory.  Marcus  (15)  in  that  year 
found  a  team  of  association  tests  to  be  superior  in  predictive 
value  and  administrative  detail  to  a  Civil  Service  examina- 
tion. His  subjects  are  Hollerith  punch  operatives. 

(3)  Burtt,  H.  E.,  Professor  Munsterberg's  Vocational  Tests.   J.  Appl. 
Psych.  1917,  I,  201-213. 

(4)  Rogers,  H.  W.,  Psychological  Tests  for  Stenographers  and  Type- 
writers, J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1917,  I,  268-274. 

(5)  Scott,  W.  D.,  A  Fourth  Method  in  Checking  Results  in  Vocational 
Selection,  J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1917,  I,  61-66. 

(6)  Flanders,  K.  J.,  Mental  Tests  of  a  Group  of  Employed  Men  show- 
ing Correlation  with  Estimates  Furnished  by  Employer,  J.  Appl.  Psyc., 

1918,  II,  197-206. 

(7)  Oschrin,  E.,  Vocational  Tests  for  Retail   Saleswomen,  J.  Appl. 
Psych.  1918,  II,  148-155. 

(8)  Link,  H.  C.,  An  Experiment  in  Employment  Psychology,  Psych. 
Review,  1918,  XXV,  116-127. 

(9)  Toops,  H.  A.  and  Chapman,  J.  C.,  A  Written  Trade  Test.    Multi- 
ple Choice  Method,  J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1919,  III,  358-365. 

(10)  Robinson,  E.  S.,  The  Analysis  of  Trade  Ability,  J.  Appl.  Psych., 

1919,  III,  352-357. 

(11)  Henmon,  V.  A.  C.,  Air  Service  Tests  of  Aptitude  for  Flying, 
J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1919,  III,  103-109. 

(12)  Thurstone,  L.  L.,  Mental  Test  for  Prospective  Telegraphers,  J. 
Appl.  Psych.,  1919,  III,  110-117.    A  Standardized  Test  for  Office  Clerks, 
J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1919,  III,  248-251. 

(13)  Link,  H.  C.,  Employment  Psychology,  1919. 

(14)  Burtt,  H.  E.,  Employment  Psychology  in  the  Rubber  Industry, 
J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1920,  IV,  1-17. 

(15)  Marcus,  L.,  Vocational  Selection  for  Specialized  Tasks,  J.  Appl. 
Psych.,  1920,  IV,  186-201. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  7 

Otis  (16)  examined  mill  workers  and  failed  to  get  signifi- 
cant correlation  between  ability  and  the  tests  which  he  used. 

In  1921  Freyd  (17)  published  test  correlations  for  jour- 
nalistic aptitude.  Bills  (18)  (19)  tests  for  the  selection  of 
comptometer  operators  and  stenographers,  and  Moore  (20) 
a  monograph  on  the  personnel  selection  of  graduate  engineers. 
He  constructed  a  test  which  differentiated  between  sales  and 
design  engineers,  and  found  also  that  occupational  interests 
show  a  definite  correlation  with  the  kind  of  occupation  in 
which  a  man  is  successful.  Bregman  (21)  first  reported  the 
correlations  for  salesclerks  and  clerical  workers  in  a  depart- 
ment store  which  are  presented  again  in  this  paper. 

Early  in  1922  Ream  (22)  found  a  series  of  Downey  will- 
temperament  tests  of  positive  value  in  predicting  success  in 
selling  insurance. 

Such  is,  in  brief,  a  record  of  the  investigations  that  have 
been  made  up  to  the  present  on  the  use  of  tests  for  selective 
purposes  in  industry.  To  what  extent  and  in  what  manner 
they  actually  function  in  industry  may  be  gathered  from 
three  reports  published  in  consecutive  years  by  the  (23)  Na- 
tional Association  of  Corporation  Training.  In  1921  thirty- 
nine  organizations  out  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  in- 
terrogated were  using  standardized  tests  in  connection  with 
employment,  training  and  other  personnel  functions. 

The  data  for  the  studies  of  this  paper  were  collected  in  one 
such  organization  during  the  two  years  which  the  writer 

(16)  Otis,  A.  S.,  The  Selection  of  Mill  Workers  by  Mental  Tests,  J. 
Appl.  Psych.,  1920,  IV,  339-341. 

(17)  Freyd,  Max,  A  Test  Series  for  Journalistic  Aptitude,  J.  Appl. 
Psych.,  1921,  V,  46-57. 

(18)  Bills,  M.  A.,  Methods  for  the  Selection  of  Comptometer  Opera- 
tors and  Stenographers,  J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1921,  V,  275-283. 

(19)  Bills,  M.  A.,  A  Test  for  Use  in  the  Selection  of  Stenographers, 
J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1921,  V,  373-377. 

(20)  Moore,  B.  V.,  Personnel  Selection  of  Graduate  Engineers,  Psych. 
Monograph,  1921,  XXX,  Whole  No.  132. 

(21)  Bregman,  E.  O.,  A  Study  in  Industrial  Psychology — Tests  for 
Special  Abilities,  J.  Appl.  Psych.,  1921,  V,  127-151. 

(22)  Ream,  M.  J.,  Group  Will  Temperament  Tests,  J.  Appl.  Psych.. 
1922,  XIII,  7-16. 

(23)  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools.   (Training). 

1919  Psychological  Tests  and  the  Results  Obtained  therefrom — 
Seventh  Annual  Proceedings. 

1920  Psychological  Tests  and  Rating  Scales  in  Industry,  Eighth 
Annual  Proceedings. 

1921  The  Application  of  Psychological  Tests  and  Rating  Scales 
in  Industry,  Ninth  Annual  Proceedings. 


8  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

spent  there  as  psychologist  investigating  the  possibilities  of 
selective  tests. 

PART  I  is  a  series  of  studies  with  two  sets  of  Trabue's  com- 
pletion sentences.  These  were  used  mainly  in  testing  appli- 
cants for  employment  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  indi- 
viduals, who,  in  general  intelligence  or  ability,  deviated  from 
the  normal  for  better  or  worse.  A  large  number  of  people  al- 
ready employed  were  also  tested  with  one  of  the  two  sets  of 
sentences. 

The  Trabue  sentences  were  chosen  for  this  purpose  of  meas- 
uring general  intelligence,  since  they  correlate  as  closely,  at 
least,  as  any  other  single  test,  with  the  longer  and  more  elab- 
orate tests  which  are  used  for  this  purpose,  and  because  the 
use  of  any  such  lengthy  and  involved  test  was,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, wholly  out  of  the  question. 

From  the  testing  of  applicants  for  the  period  of  about  two 
years  there  accumulated  a  body  of  data,  that  together  with  the 
data  from  the  tests  of  employees,  has  been  analyzed  and  pre- 
sented in  PART  I. 

PART  II  is  a  history  of  the  investigation  the  purpose  of 
which  was  the  establishment  of  tests  that  would  indicate, 
from  among  outwardly  undifferentiated  applicants  for  em- 
ployment those  individuals  who  would  do  their  best  work  as 
salesclerks,  and  those  who  should  be  employed  for  clerical 
work. 

Chapter  I  of  PART  II  appeared  in  the  June  1921,  number  of 
the  Journal  of  Applied  Psychology  under  the  title  "A  Study 
in  Industrial  Psychology — Tests  fpr  Special  Abilities."  A 
few  unimportant  changes  have  been  made  in  the  present  copy. 


PARTI 
TESTS  FOR  GENERAL  ABILITY 

Two  Language  Completion  Scales 

The  tests  which  are  the  subject  of  these  studies  are  2  scales 
derived  from  Trabue's  language  completion  exercises.*  They 
were  devised  to  test  the  applicants  in  the  employment  office  of 
a  large  department  store.  Adults  already  employed  were  also 
tested  with  these  scales  for  one  purpose  or  another.  The  two 
tests  will  be  called  1  and  1A  throughout  the  paper.  Sentences 
will  be  designated  by  their  position  in  the  test  and  the  test 
number.  Thus,  sentence  1  of  Scale  1A  will  be  called  1A-1. 

Derivation 

Each  test  is  made  up  of  25  of  the  Trabue  sentences.  The 
tests  were  so  arranged  as  to  approximate  tasks  equal  in  diffi- 
culty, using  the  difficulty  values  which  are  given  in  the  original 
monograph.  The  order  of  sentences  in  each  test  is  that  of 
increasing  difficulty,  according  to  the  following  scheme. 

1  sentence    with         a         scale  value  of  1 

2  sentences  with  an  average  scale  value  of  2 
2          »  »      »          »»  »»          »>       >»  Q 

2  »  »          »  »  »  »>  "  A 

2  »  »          »  »  »  »  »  g 

8tt  »          »  »  »  »  >»  (* 

O 

O  »  >»  »  »  »  »  »   fT 

q  "  »  »  >»  "  »»  "   Q 

o  »  "       »  »»  >»  »        >'  q 

o  >y  »         »>  tf  j>  »          "10 

2  »>  »       »  >»  »  »        "11 

More  of  the  difficult  sentences  and  less  of  the  easier  were 
used  because  the  tests  were  to  be  used  with  adults  whom  it 
was  unnecessary  to  test  extensively  in  the  lower  values. 

Subjects 

Over  a  period  of  21  months,  11,018  applicants  were  tested 
with  the  Scale  1A,  and  4,053  were  tested  with  Scale  1.    This 
*See  Completion-Test  Language  Scales.    Marion  Rex  Trabue. 

9 


10  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

number  represents  practically  all  of  the  applicants  for  posi- 
tions during  these  months,  with  certain  exceptions.  The  ex- 
ceptions were  mainly  employed  for  such  jobs  as  porters,  dish- 
washers, scrubbers,  milliners  and  tailors;  i.e.,  unskilled  and 
skilled  manual  workers,  and  the  foreign  born  who  were  unable 
to  read  and  speak  English.  Those  who  were  tested  were  con- 
sidered for  such  jobs  as  salesclerk,  clerical  worker,  packer, 
cashier,  wrapper,  messenger,  floorwalker,  stockman,  driver 
and  driver's  helper,  and  certain  subordinate  executive  posi- 
tions. 

The  following  table  shows  the  grade  in  school  at  time  of 
leaving  for  the  applicants  who  presented  themselves  during 
the  first  two  and  a  half  weeks  of  testing.  This  group  may 
fairly  be  taken  to  be  typical  of  all  subsequent  applicants.  The 
range  is  from  the  4th  grade  in  the  primary  school  into  the  pro- 
fessional schools  and  colleges.  The  mode  is  at  the  8th  grade. 

Schooling  Distribution — Table  1 

Grade  4567      8       1      2       34      Colleges,  etc. 

No.  215     34     75     21     10     6     20  6 

With  the  ages  of  the  applicants  arranged  in  five  year  groups, 
the  modal  age  group  is  from  15  to  19  years. 

Both  men  and  women  were  tested,  but  women  were  far  in 
the  majority.  The  applicants  came  from  among  the  working 
class,  the  untrained  working  class  of  New  York  and  its  en- 
virons, and  to  some  degree  they  were  floaters  of  that  class — 
women  who  were  married  and  worked  part  time,  girls  who 
hoped  to  be  married,  unsuccessful  storekeepers,  men  who  had 
learned  no  trade,  newly  arrived  immigrants  from  the  English 
speaking  countries.  The  second  generation  of  most  European 
races  and  countries  were"  represented  and  a  number  of  the 
first  generation  who  had  been  here  long  enough  to  learn  the 
language.  Jews,  Irish  and  Italians  formed  the  greatest  part 
of  the  foreign  born  or  the  foreign  parented.  There  were  some 
South  Americans  but  no  negroes. 

The  tests  were  given  with  a  time  limit  of  10  minutes.  This 
was  decided  upon  after  preliminary  experimentation  indicated 
that  most  subjects  would  attain  their  maximum  performance 
in  that  time  and  that  to  very  few  would  it  be  possible  to  make 
a  perfect  score  in  that  period.  No  emphasis  was  placed  upon 
speed  in  the  directions  for  taking  the  test,  which  were  always 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  11 

oral  and  were  followed  by  a  short  exercise  similar  to  the  test 

itself,  namely,  completing  the  two  sentences,  "One  and 

are  two,"  and  "The  boy  lost hat  and ."  The  appli- 
cants were  told  to  " finish  as  many  sentences  as  you 

can,  but  do  them  carefully  and  correctly." 

The  customary  precautions  as  to  similarity  of  directions, 
accuracy  of  timing  and  constancy  of  conditions  were,  of 
course,  observed.  Applicants  were  tested  either  singly  or  in 
groups  that  did  not  exceed  10,  according  to  the  number  in 
which  they  presented  themselves  for  employment.  The  sen- 
tences were  printed  on  the  inside  of  a  4  leaf  folder  in  large 
clear  type.  The  sample  sentences  were  on  the  outside  sheet 
of  this  folder.  The  test  in  each  case  was  begun  only  after  the 
fore  exercise  had  been  correctly  performed  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  task  was  clearly  comprehended. 

The  sentences  were  scored  in  accordance  with  Trabue's 
scheme  of  2  credits  for  each  sentence  perfectly  completed,  1 
credit  for  each  almost  perfect,  and  zero  for  any  other  per- 
formance. The  maximum  score  was,  therefore,  50.  Trabue's 
Key  for  Completion  Test  Language  Scales  was  used  as  a  guide 
for  marking. 

Norms 

Norms  are  available  for  11,018  cases  tested  with  Scale  1A 
and  4,053  tested  with  Scale  1.  The  two  tests  proved  to  be  prac- 
tically equivalent  tasks,  as  is  evidenced  by  Table  2,  which 
gives  the  scores  attained  by  25%',  50%  and  75%  of  each  group, 
and  Table  3  which  shows  the  distribution  by  deciles. 

TABLE  2* 
Quartile  Distribution 


Test 

Ql 

M 

Q3 

No.  of  cases 

1A 

30 

36 

41 

11,018 

1 

30 

34 

39 

4,053 

TABLE  3 
Decile  Distribution 

10%     20%     30%     40%     50%     60%     70%     80%      90%  100% 

1A  26         29         32         34         36         38         40         42         44  50 

1  25         29         31         32         34         36         38         40         42  50 

No.  of  cases 

1A   11,013 

1    4,053 

*In  all  Tables  the  whole  number  only  of  the  step  in  which  a  meas- 
ure falls  is  given.  In  computations,  however,  the  exact  fractional  num- 
ber has  always  been  retained. 


12  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

It  is  apparent  that  for  all  practical  purposes  the  two  tests 
are  equivalent,  although  Scale  1  seems  to  be  slightly  more 
difficult. 

Norms  for  Foreign  Born 

The  performance  norms  for  people  of  foreign  birth  differ 
from  the  norms  of  the  native  born.  The  figures  in  Table  4 
were  determined  from  111  cases  of  foreign  born  who  were 
able  to  read,  speak  and  write  English  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  were  at  least  capable  of  understanding  and  following  the 
test  directions  and  were  able  to  perform  the  test.  These 
people  had  been  in  the  United  States  for  varying  lengths  of 
time,  but  all  of  them  naturally  and  preferably  spoke  and 
thought  in  a  language  other  than  English. 

TABLE  4— Foreign  Born,  Scale  1A 
Quartile  Distribution 

Ql M Q3 No  of  cases 

20  24  27  111 

Decile  Distribution 

10%  20%  30%  40%  50%  60%  70%  80%  90%  100%  No.  of  cases 

14       18       20       22       24       26       26       28       31       40  111 

These  scores  are  considerably  lower  than  the  scores  of 
Tables  2  and  3,  which  give  norms  for  the  native  born. 

Five  Minute  Norms 

Scale  1A  was  used  as  a  five  minute  test  with  440  individuals. 
Of  this  number  223  were  applicants,  49  were  salesclerks,  76 
minor  executives,  department  heads,  and  30  were  students  at 
the  N.  Y.  U.  Training  School  for  Teachers  of  Retail  Selling. 
The  median,  quartile  and  decile  scores  for  this  group  are 
given  in  Table  5. 

TABLE  5 

Score  in  1A  —  5  Minute  Test 

Ql M  Q3 No.  of  cases 

24  29  35  440 

10%  20%  30%  40%  50%  60%  70%  80%  90%  100%  No.  of  cases 

22       24       26       27       29       30       33       36       39       50  440 

The  scores  are  naturally  lower  than  when  the  test  is  per- 
formed for  ten  minutes.  In  the  range  of  the  middle  fifty  per 
cent  there  is  a  constant  difference  of  6  points  between  the 
Q/s,  the  M's  and  the  Q3's.  Or,  put  in  a  different  way— 75% 
of  the  distribution  of  the  ten  minute  test  exceed  the  Median 
of  the  five  minute  test.  There  is  also  a  greater  interval,  in  the 
five  minute  test,  between  the  Q3  and  the  limit  of  the  distribu- 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


13 


tion,  making  possible  a  finer  discrimination  of  individuals 
above  75%  in  the  shorter  time  period. 

Age  Norms 

Age  distributions  for  both  ten  minute  tests  were  plotted  in 
one  year  periods  from  15  to  20  years,  and  five  year  periods 
from  then  on.  The  upper  age  limit  is  55. 

Figure  1  presents  the  data  graphically  and  Tables  6  and  7 
numerically. 

***b     ^ 

b/ 


The  medium  and  quartile  measures  show  no  progressive 
appreciation  or  depreciation  with  age.  Neither  does  the  point 
indicating  the  uppermost  decile  vary  with  age  but  remains 
practically  stable  throughout.  The  point  indicating  the  lowest 
decile,  however,  falls  off  slightly  but  steadily  as  age  increases. 
Just  what  this  means  it  is  difficult  to  say.  A  possible  explana- 
tion is  that  there  is  a  tendency  toward  a  slight  increase,  with 
age,  in  the  number  of  low  grade  people  looking  for  employ- 
ment. Another  possibility  may  be  that  there  is  an  actual 


14  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

TABLE  6 

Age  Norms  for  Test  1A — 10  Minute. 
Age  10%        25%*        50%         75%         90%          No. 


15 

27 

32 

37 

41 

44 

114 

16 

27 

31 

36 

40 

43 

376 

17 

25 

30 

35 

40 

44 

728 

18 

25 

29 

35 

40 

44 

819 

19 

25 

30 

35 

40 

44 

614 

20-24 

25 

30 

35 

40 

44 

1870 

25-29 

24 

30 

35 

40 

45 

845 

30-34 

24 

29 

35 

41 

45 

527 

35-39 

24 

29 

34 

40 

45 

368 

40-44 

23 

30 

35 

41 

44 

220 

45-49 

23 

27 

33 

41 

46 

83 

50-54 

23 

28 

35 

40 

44 

36 

TABLE  7 

Age 

Norms 

for  Test  1  —  10  Minute. 

Age 

10% 

25% 

50% 

75% 

90% 

No. 

15 

27 

31 

35 

40 

44 

67 

16 

27 

32 

37 

41 

44 

287 

17 

26 

31 

36 

40 

44 

500 

18 

25 

30 

34 

38 

43 

568 

19 

26 

30 

35 

40 

44 

384 

20-24 

24 

30 

35 

40 

45 

1178 

25-29 

24 

29 

35 

39 

44 

532 

30-34 

24 

30 

34 

40 

43 

328 

35-39 

23 

29 

34 

39 

43 

188 

40-44 

24 

29 

34 

39 

44 

127 

45-49 

21 

29 

32 

37 

41 

58 

50-54 

34 

16 

waning  of  ability  with  age,  but  that  it  is  confined  only  to  those 
individuals  who  fall  at  the  lowest  extreme  of  the  curve  of  dis- 
tribution. 

Group  Differences 

Scale  1A  was  used  as  a  five  minute  test  with  various  special 
groups  among  the  personnel  of  the  store  and  for  a  short  period 
also  for  applicants.  A  class  at  N.  Y.  U.  Training  School  for 
Teachers  of  Retail  Selling  was  also  so  tested.  Interesting  dif- 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  15 

ferences  are  to  be  noted  between  the  performances  of  these 
groups.    See  Table  8. 

TABLE  8 

Performance  of  Groups  Tested  with  Scale  1A — 5  Minute. 
Ql  M  Q3  No. 


Applicants 

24 

28 

31 

223 

Sales  clerks 

24 

29 

33 

4     49 

Sec.  Mgrs. 

24 

29 

34 

63 

Executives 

26 

34 

38 

62 

Students 

34 

39 

44 

30 

The'  performance  of  the  applicants,  sales  clerks  and  section 
managers — or  "floorwalkers",  as  they  are  generally  known — 
is  very  much  alike,  except  that  above  the  median  the  two  latter 
groups  are  very  slightly  better.  There  is  a  marked  difference 
between  these  groups  and  the  executives,  however.  Nearly 
70%  of  the  executives  exceed  in  score  the  median  of  the  sales- 
clerks  and  the  section  managers.  The  students,  in  turn,  make 
better  scores  than  the  executives,  for,  of  the  students,  75% 
reach  or  exceed  the  median  score  of  the  executives. 

Differences  Within  a  Group 

The  executives  noted  in  the  preceding  section  occupied  lead- 
ing positions  in  the  organization  and  as  such  represented 
roughly  the  most  able  individuals  of  a  group  of  5,000,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  business  success. 

Ratings  were  made  on  51  of  these  executives  by  the  general 
manager  and  by  one  of  the  assistant  managers,  who,  by  virtue 
of  his  function  in  the  organization,  was  in  a  position  to  know 
the  department  heads  unusually  well. 

These  two  men  classified  the  executives  in  three  groups,  (1) 
the  most  able,  (3)  the  least  able,  and  (2)  those  of  average 
ability  from  the  standpoint  not  only  of  their  present  position 
and  accomplishments,  but  also  of  their  possibilities  for  fur- 
ther development.  The  ratings  of  the  two  men  were  combined 
in  the  following  fashion : 

Group  1     Those  classified  as  (1)  by  both  raters 
Group  2     Those  rated  either  as  (2)   (2)  or  (2)   (1) 
Group  3    Those  rated  as  (2)  by  both  raters 
Group  4     Those  rated  either  as  (2)  (3)  or  (3)  (3) 
Group  5    Those  rated  as  (3)  by  both  raters. 


16 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  f/SYCHOLOGY 


Groups  1,  3  and  5,  it  is  apparent,  possess  greater  validity 
than  Groups  2  and  4. 

The  scores  for  these  groups  are  shown  in  Figure  2. 

Figure  2 — Executive  Scores  in  Scale  1A — 5  Minute,  and 

Ratings 


Group  5 
Rated  (3) +  (3 


Group  4 

Rated  (2) +  (3) 
or  (3) +  (3) 


Group  3 
Rated  (2) +  (2) 


Group  2 

Rated  (2) +  (2) 
or(2)  +  (l) 


Group  1 
Rated  (!)  +  (!) 


Although  there  is  much  overlapping,  the  differences  in  the 
performance  of  these  groups  may  be  noted.  Group  1,  the  first 
rate  executives,  make  a  median  score  of  41,  fully  9  points 
above  the  median  of  Groups  2  and  3,  who  are  the  executives  of 
average  ability.  These,  in  turn,  score  5  points  higher  than 
Group  5,  which  both  judges  agree  upon  rating  as  inferior. 

From  the  data  of  this  and  preceding  sections,  it  would  seem 
that  some  of  the  same  factors  are  involved  in  the  performance 
of  a  completion  language  test  as  operated  to  keep  some  people 
salesclerks  or  floorwalkers,  make  others  executives,  and  of 
these,  executives  of  varying  ability,  and  lead  still  others  U 
continue  their  studies  beyond  the  college  or  professional 
school. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  17 

These  factors,  it  will  probably  be  generally  agreed,  consti- 
tute what  has  been  summed  up  under  the  term  "general  in- 
telligence". 

Correlation  with  Otis  Advanced  Examination 

A  number  of  individuals  who  had  been  tested  with  Scale  1 
or  1A  were  also  tested  with  the  Otis  Advanced  Examination. 
Correlation  coefficients  between  the  Otis  and  the  two  comple- 
tion scales  are  shown  in  Table  9.  The  median,  average  and 
S.  D.  from  the  average  for  each  variable  are  also  given  in  this. 
Table  for  the  purposes  of  comparison.  Comparison  is  possible 
both  between  the  groups  whose  members  were  tested  with 
both  the  Otis  and  a  completion  test  and  between  these  groups 
and  the  total  population  tested. 

Groups  1  and  2  of  the  Table  were  candidates  for  a  training 
class  for  executives.  Group  1,  numbering  40,  were  tested 
with  Scale  1A  for  10  minutes;  Group  2,  numbering  13,  per- 
formed this  test  for  5  minutes  only.  Both  groups  are  selected 
on  the  basis  of  ability,  for  candidates  for  this  training  course 
are  either  already  in  positions  of  some  responsibility  or,  as 
clerks,  have  shown  latent  ability  which  the  course  is  to  de- 
velop. 

Comparison  of  the  medians  for  these  two  groups  in  the  1A 
test  with  the  medians  given  for  this  test  for  the  total  popula- 
tion tested — to  be  found  in  Tables  2  and  5 — show  that  in  test 
performance  also  this  is  a  superior  group. 

Group  3,  which  performed  the  Scale  1 — 10  minutes,  were 
messengers  and  wrappers  and  the  like,  most  of  them  between 
15  and  21  years  of  age.  This  group  also  includes  some  indi- 
viduals who  were  tested  because  of  reported  inefficiency  or 
suspected  mental  defect.  The  difference  between  the  average 
of  this  group  and  that  of  Groups  1  and  2  in  the  Otis  test  is 
very  great.  In  Scale  1,  however,  there  is  a  falling  off  of  only 
one  point  from  the  median  of  the  total  unselected  group,  (cf. 
Table  2).  Group  3  then  is  apparently  much  inferior  to  Groups 
1  and  2,  but  approximates  in  test  score  the  average  of  the  total 
population  tested. 

Group  4  is  composed  of  103  school  children  in  the  8th  grade 
of  a  New  York  City  public  school.  They  form,  of  course,  a 
group  highly  selected,  both  as  to  age  and  ability.  In  test  per- 
formance their  position  is  between  Groups  1  and  2  and  Group 
3. 


18  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

TABLE  9 
Correlation  of  *Otis  Advanced  Examination  with  Scales  1  and  1A 


Group     r 

Variables 
x                y 

Median           Mean 

y          x          y 

S. 

X 

D. 
y 

No. 

1. 
2. 
3. 

4. 

.804 
.71 
.846 
.49 

Otis 
Otis 
Otis 
Otis 

1A-10' 
1A-5' 
1    -10' 
1A-10' 

40 
34 
33 
34 

136.3 
130 
90.8 
106.4 

39.3 
33.9 
32.8 
34.1 

38.6 
34.8 
35.3 
19.9 

7.4 
6.2 
8.3 

4.4 

40 
15 
40 
103 

The  correlation  throughout  is  high  and  positive.  The  co- 
efficients for  the  adult  groups  are  very  high;  r  =  .804,  .71  and 
.846  respectively.  Moreover,  the  coefficients  for  groups  1  and 
3  are  very  close.  That  the  correlation  for  group  2  differs  as 
much  as  it  does  from  these  two  is  probably  due  in  part  to  the 
small  number  of  cases  in  this  group  and  the  consequent  larger 
unreliability,  and  also  to  the  fact  that  as  a  five  minute  test, 
Scale  1A  does  not  give  so  true  a  measure  of  ability  as  it  does  as 
a  ten  minute  test. 

The  smallest  coefficient  comes  from  the  group  of  school  chil- 
dren. But  the  variability  of  this  group  is  about  one-half  what 
it  is  for  the  other  groups.  (Using  Thorndike's  formula  Var  f 
Group  4  in  the  Otis  test  is  almost  exactly  one-half  as^/c.  T. 

variable  as  Group  3.     The  exact  ratio  is    1^.- )    Since,  when 

3.7  / 

the  variability  of  group  relative  to  the  C.  T.  is  smaller,  the 
correlation  coefficient  is  also  smaller,  the  reduced  size  of  the 
coefficient  for  Group  4  can  be  thus  accounted  for. 

Difficulty  Value  of  Sentences 

In  arranging  the  two  tests,  the  sentences  were  placed  in  an 
order  of  increasing  difficulty,  according  to  the  values  deter- 
mined by  Trabue  from  the  groups  which  he  tested.  These 
groups  were  made  up  of  children  from  the  second  grade 
through  High  School  and-  a  small  number  of  graduate  stud- 
dents.  It  seemed  reasonable  to  suppose  that  a  group  of  adults 
only  would  give  values  somewhat  different  from  those  drawn 
almost  wholly  from  children,  both  as  to  the  absolute  difficulty 
of  the  sentences  and  the  order  of  their  difficulty. 

In  order  to  determine  this  the  difficulty  of  each  sentence 
used  in  the  two  series  was  calculated  in  terms  of  the  P.  E. 


*In  some  cases  the  Otis  scale  was  abbreviated  by  omitting  tests  5  or  5 
and  6.  Full  scores  were  computed  for  such  cases  by  means  of  the 
formula  and  values  given  by  Otis  for  this  purpose  on  p.  14  of  the  Manual 
of  Directions,  1921  revision  of  the  Otis  Group  Intelligence  Scale. 

tE.  L.  Thorndike.     Mental  and  Social  Measurements,  p.  133. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  19 

from  the  median — using  the  first  thousand  cases  tested  with 
each  series  of  sentences. 

Trabue's  values  are  also  based  upon  the  P.  E.  and  the  two 
sets  of  values  are,  therefore,  comparable.  An  important  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  sets  must,  however,  not  fail  to  be 
pointed  out.  Trabue's  subjects  were,  with  the  exception  of 
the  small  group  of  graduate  students,  all  children  in  the  public 
schools  from  the  2nd  grade  through  the  High  School.  The 
performance  of  these  subjects  varied  from  grade  to  grade, 
each  higher  grade  showing  an  increment  in  score.  There  was, 
therefore,  a  separate  distribution  for  each  grade — and  Tra- 
bue's final  difficulty  value  for  any  sentence  is  an  average  of  the 
P.  E.  positions  of  that  sentence  in  the  grades  in  which  it  was 
used.  Into  the  minutae  of  the  derivation  of  the  values  it  is 
not  necessary  to  go  here ;  suffice  it  to  point  out  that  Trabue's 
values  are  not  simple  P.  E.  positions  but  composite  figures 
based  on  several  such  positions. 

In  the  work  here  reported,  however,  there  was  only  one 
distribution  to  be  considered;  the  performance  of  adults  va- 
ries very  little  with  age  as  has  been  shown  in  a  preceding  sec- 
tion. The  values  here  determined  are,  therefore,  true  P.  E. 
positions,  whereas  the  original  set  of  values  are,  as  their 
author  has  called  them,  general  locations  determined  from 
several  P.  E.  positions  in  several  distributions. 

The  original  values,  moreover,  are  expressed,  not  in  units 
above  and  below  the  median  but  in  units  above  an  arbitrary 
zero  point.  In  order  to  facilitate  comparison  of  the"  two  sets 
of  values,  the  new  values  have  been  referred  to  the  same  zero 
point  by  giving  to  the  easiest  sentence  of  the  fifty  used  in  the 
two  scales  the  same  value  as  appears  for  it  in  Trabue's  mono- 
graph. This  sentence  is  1A-1,  its  position  by  our  data  is 
4.083  P.  E.  below  the  median.  Trabue's  value  for  this  sen- 
tence is  1.38  and  it  is  assigned  the  same  value.  All  other  values 
are  computed  from  this  as  a  base  by  adding  to  1.38  the  num- 
ber of  P.  E.'s  which  the  other  sentences  are  distant  from  1A-1 
by  our  data. 

The  two  series  have  by  this  device  a  common  zero  point, 
that  established  by  Trabue.  This  probably  more  closely 
approaches  the  true  zero  than  any  point  that  could  be  de- 
termined from  the  data  of  this  paper  since  Trabue's  subjects 
included  very  young  children,  and  these  may  more  reasonably 


20  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

be  expected  to  approximate  the  point  of  absolutely  no  ability 
to  perform  a  test  of  this  character  than  adults. 

In  Table  10  are  presented  the  values  so  obtained.  The  sen- 
tences are  listed  from  the  easiest  to  the  most  difficult  as  de- 
termined by  the  adult  performances.  The  value  of  the  sen- 
tences for  these  individuals  in  terms  of  P.  E.  from  the  median 
is  shown,  the  computed  difficulty  of  each  sentence  when  1A-1 
is  assigned  the  value  of  1.38,  which  is  identical  with  the  Tra- 
bue  value  for  this  sentence  and  finally  the  Trabue  value  and 
number  for  each  sentence. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  arrangement  of  the  data  that  the 
order  of  difficulty  of  the  sentences  is  not  greatly  changed.  The 
correlation  (P)  between  the  two  rank  orders  is  +.97  when 

62D2 

calculated  by  the  Spearman  formula  p  =  1 ,  2_..       The 

range,  however,  is  decidedly  wider  with  Trabue's  values,  or  it 
may  be  that  the  units  are  smaller.  Sentence  25,  scale  1A, 
which  is  the  most  difficult  in  both  determinations,  is  12.65 
units  above  zero  in  Trabue's  values,  only  8.57  units  in  the  adult 
distribution.  Since  both  series  begin  with  1.38  the  sentences 
with  the  adult  group  have  a  range  of  only  7  units,  whereas 
with  the  earlier  work  the  range  is  about  11  units,  more  than 
half  as  much  again. 

TABLE  10 

Difficulties  of  Sentences  of  Scales  1  and  1A 

Sent.  No.      P.  E.  from     Computed  Dif-      Trabue's      Trabue's 
Median         ficulty  Value          Value       Sent.  No. 


1A 

1 

-4.083 

1.38 

1.38 

1 

1 

1 

-3.506 

1.96 

.96 

2 

1A 

5 

-3.450 

2.01 

4.47 

12 

1A 

2 

-3.3 

2.15 

1.63 

5 

1 

2 

-3.015 

2.45 

2.52 

75 

1A 

3 

-2.986 

2.48 

1.97 

77 

1 

4 

-2.986 

2.48 

3.34 

11 

1 

3 

-2.932 

2.53 

1.09 

76 

1A 

6 

-2.905 

2.56 

3.66 

29 

1A 

4 

-2.834 

2.63 

3.31 

7 

1A 

7 

-2.631 

2.83 

4.15 

22 

1 

5 

-2.514 

2.95 

3.58 

19 

1 

7 

-2.514 

2.95 

4.26 

16 

STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  21 

TABLE  10  Continued 


Sent.   No. 

P.  E.  from 

Computed   Dif- 

Trabue's 

Trabue's 

Median 

ficulty  Value 

Value 

Sent.  No. 

1        9 

-2.425 

3.04 

5.55 

30 

1      11 

-2.384 

3.08 

5.85 

98 

1A  12 

-2.211 

3.25 

6.15 

31 

1A     8 

-2.166 

3.30 

5.69 

23 

1A  11 

-2.074 

3.39 

6.16 

61 

1        8 

-2.054 

3.41 

5.40 

24 

1        6 

-1.835 

3.63 

4.12 

17 

1A     9 

-1.780 

3.68 

6.95 

58 

1A  13 

-1.780 

3.68 

7.31 

27 

1A  10 

-1.512 

3.95 

5.98 

25 

1A  14 

-1.462 

4.00 

7.85 

107 

1      14 

-1.374 

4.09 

6.96 

37 

1      15 

-1.368 

4.10 

7.04 

69 

1      10 

-1.286 

4.18 

6.32 

57 

1A  15 

-1.253 

4.21 

7.16 

28 

1      16 

-1.110 

4.35 

8.32 

94 

1      13 

-1.000 

4.46 

6.67 

34 

1A  17 

-  .740 

4.72 

7.91 

41 

1      12 

-  .592 

4.87 

6.50 

102 

1A  16 

-  .504 

4.96 

8.15 

36 

1      17 

-  .496 

4.97 

8.37 

70 

1A  18 

-  .330 

5.13 

8.29 

68 

1      18 

-  .130 

5.33 

8.28 

43 

1      19 

.307 

5.77 

8.91 

62 

1A  19 

.357 

5.82 

8.92 

32 

1A  20 

.480 

5.94 

8.92 

45 

1      20 

.489 

5.95 

9.04 

81 

1A  21 

.644 

6.11 

9.28 

53 

1A  22 

.958 

6.42 

9.53 

91 

1      22 

1.279 

6.74 

9.88 

93 

1A  23 

1.318 

6.78 

10.14 

55 

1      21 

1.884 

7.35 

10.05 

50 

1      23 

2.044 

7.51 

10.19 

78 

1A  24 

2.103 

7.57 

11.58 

83 

1     25 

2.155 

7.62 

11.14 

86 

1      24 

2.357 

7.82 

10.55 

85 

1A  25 

3.111 

8.57 

12.65 

88 

22  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Summary 

Two  language  completion  tests,  called  Scale  1  and  1A  re- 
spectively, each  composed  of  25  Trabue  sentences,  are  the  sub- 
ject of  these  studies.  The  data  concerning  the  tests  are  derived 
from  the  performance  of  adults,  applicants  for  employment 
and  employees  of  a  large  department  store. 

I.  Norms  are  given  for  each  test  when  used  with  a  ten  min- 
ute time  limit,  which  are  derived  from  the  performance  of  a 
total  of  above  15,000  adults  for  both  tests. 

II.  The  two  tests  appear  from  these  norms  to  be  of  practi- 
cally equal  difficulty. 

III.  Norms  for  111  individuals  of  foreign  birth,  who  per- 
formed Scale  1A  are  given.     These  norms,  which  are  con- 
siderably lower  than  the  performance  of  the  native  born,  il- 
lustrate the  fact  that  to  some  extent  proficiency  in  the  tests  is 
dependent  upon  familiarity  with  the  English  language. 

IV.  Norms  for  440  individuals  who  performed  Scale  1A  for 
a  five  minute  period  only  are  also  given. 

V.  Age  distributions  covering  a  period  of  years  from  15  to 
55  for  Scale  1A  and  from  15  to  50  for  Scale  1  are  given.    No 
constant  change  in  performance  with  age  is  to  be  observed  ex- 
cept at  the  lower  end  of  the  curve.    The  score  tends  here  to 
decrease  with  age. 

VI.  The  difficulty  of  each  sentence  in  terms  of  probable  er- 
ror of  the  distribution,  using  1,000  cases  as  data,  is  given. 
Compared  with  the  difficulty  derived  by  Trabue  for  the  same 
sentences,  the  order  of  difficulty  is  found  to  be  little  changed — 
P  being  .97.    The  absolute  values  are  different,  however.    The 
sentences,  with  Trabue's  subjects  and  units,  cover  about  11 
units,  with  the  adults  the  sentences  cover  only  7  units. 

VII.  Differences  in  the  performances  of  several  occupa- 
tional groups  are  found  -that  conform  generally  to  the  rank  of 
these  groups. 

VIII.  Differences  in  the  performance  of  executives  are  also 
found  that  follow  the  ability  of  these  executives  according  to 
managers'  ratings. 

IX.  Both  scales  give  high  correlation  with  the  Otis  ad- 
vanced examination. 

r  =  .804  for  Otis  and  Scale  1A-10' 
r  ==  .846  for  Otis  and  Scale  1  -10' 
r  =  .71  for  Otis  and  Scale  1A-5' 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  23 

The  correlation  for  Scale  1A-10  minute  with  Otis  when 
children  of  the  8th  grade  of  a  New  York  City  public  school  are 
used  as  subjects  is  not  so  high;  r  =  .49.  The  greater  homo- 
geneity of  the  group  of  schoolchildren  is  considered  responsi- 
ble for  the  reduction. 

Conclusion 

That  in  the  performance  of  both  tests  information  bearing 
on  the  general  intelligence,  or  what  is  perhaps  a  better  term, 
the  "general  ability"  of  the  person  tested,  is  given,  seems  to  be 
indicated  by  the  close  correlation  with  the  Otis  examination, 
and  by  the  positive  association  with  executive  ability  and  gen- 
eral success  in  life  as  measured  by  occupational  rank. 

For  this  purpose  of  gaining  information  concerning  the  in- 
tellectual quality  of  the  individual  tested,  the  two  tests,  Scale 
1  and  1A,  were  found  to  be  very  serviceable  in  the  organiza- 
tion in  which  they  were  used.  By  selecting  against,  from 
among  the  individuals,  those  applicants  who  made  scores 
toward  the  lower  end  of  the  curve  of  distribution,  employ- 
ment of  the  dull  and  defective  could  be  guarded  against. 

The  critical  score,  below  which  employment  was  question- 
able, could  be  varied  with  the  needs  of  the  job  and  had  to  be 
varied  with  the  urgency  of  the  employment  situation.  The 
usefulness  of  the  test  was  not  limited,  however,  to  the  detec- 
tion of  the  individuals  below  the  average.  Information  con- 
cerning the  above  average  individuals  was  also  necessary  and 
useful.  And  the  tests  served  these  purposes  not  only  for  ap- 
plicants, but  for  employees  also,  in  cases  of  unsatisfactory 
work  or  behavior  or  of  promotion,  transfer,  or  selection  for 
training  in  the  classes  of  the  educational  department. 

The  tests  do  not,  of  course,  furnish  very  fine  measures  of 
mental  age  or  ability.  But  such  measures  are  not  generally 
needed  for  the  bulk  of  the  workers.  To  have  information 
that  roughly  classifies  a  person  as  average,  above  or  below 
average,  or  very  much  above  or  below  average,  is  in  most  cases 
valuable  and  sufficient  information.  Further  detail  would 
concern  itself  with  that  person's  special  abilities  rather  than 
general  ability. 

For  cases  where  a  more  refined  measure  is  needed,  longer 
tests  are  generally  available  for  a  more  accurate  rating. 
Even  in  such  cases  the  short  test,  given  first,  has  served  as  a 
guide  as  to  which  of  the  longer  tests  to  use. 


24  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  they  are  indicators  of  general  in- 
tellectual level,  certain  qualities  appertaining  to  the  tests 
make  them  especially  fitted  for  industrial  use.  Not  the  least 
of  these  is  that  the  test  period  is  a  short  one.  For  use  in  an 
employment  office  it  is  especially  desirable  that  this  should  be 
so;  on  the  one  hand  in  the  interest  of  the  management  for 
whom  it  is  desirable  from  the  point  of  view  of  costs  and  ad- 
ministration that  the  business  of  employment  be  as  simple  and 
brief  as  possible ;  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  interest  of  the  ap- 
plicant, for  whom  the  total  time  spent  without  remuneration, 
in  an  interview,  a  mental  examination,  and  often,  in  addition, 
a  physical  examination  takes  up  no  mean  part  of  a  working 
day. 

Besides  being  short  the  tests  are  easy  to  give.  An  intel- 
ligent clerk,  properly  trained,  can  give  them.  The  tests  are 
readily  understood,  even  by  the  very  dull,  and  the  task  seems 
not  too  strange  and  fantastic  to  people  to  whom  the  fact  of 
any  kind  of  a  test  is  surprising. 

The  marking  of  the  tests  is  also  not  difficult,  and  with 
practice  becomes  very  rapid  indeed,  although  the  use  of  a  sten- 
cil is,  of  course,  not  possible.  That  by  reason  of  the  nature  of 
the  tests  a  certain  amount  of  personal  judgment  may  influence 
the  marking  is  a  weakness,  as  is  also  the  dependence  of  per- 
formance to  a  certain  degree  upon  proficiency  in  the  English 
language,  which  was  illustrated  by  the  lower  scores  for  the 
foreign  born.  For  the  latter  fact,  due  allowances  can  always 
be  made  if  the  country  of  birth  is  indicated ;  as  for  the  former 
it  was  found  in  practice,  and  with  practice,  that  whatever  was 
the  error  that  personal  judgment  introduced  into  the  scoring, 
it  was  at  least  not  large  enough  to  result  in  a  gross  mis  judg- 
ment of  the  intelligence  on  the  basis  of  the  score. 


PART  II 

TESTS  FOR  SPECIAL  ABILITIES 
CHAPTER  1 

The  greatest  number  of  employees  of  a  department  store 
are  salesclerks ;  the  next  in  number  are  clerical  workers.  Con- 
sequently it  was  for  tests  that  would  indicate  these  two  types 
of  workers  that  investigation  was  first  begun. 

It  has  seemed  worth  while,  in  the  light  of  the  many  new 
problems  of  administration  which  confront  the  investigator 
in  industry,  to  add  to  the  report  of  the  findings  of  the  investi- 
gation, an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  investigation 
itself  was  handled,  since  this  phase  is  as  vital  to  the  success 
of  the  undertaking  as  an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  scientific 
technique  and  procedure. 

Preliminaries.  In  April  of  1919  the  writer  came  to  the  de- 
partment store,  whose  employees  number  5,000,  to  "ex- 
periment with  vocational  tests."  Before  beginning  experi- 
mental work  of  any  kind  the  writer  went  through  a  course  of 
training,  working  in  every  department  of  the  organization  in 
every  capacity — as  wrapper,  salesclerk,  complaint  clerk,  etc., 
etc.,  through  a  miscellany  of  positions.  This  course  enabled 
the  writer  not  only  to  understand  the  organization  in  which 
she  was  to  work,  but  to  learn  the  personnel  and  personality 
of  departments,  to  have  more  than  a  bowing  acquaintance  with 
department  heads  and  executives,  and,  not  the  least  important, 
to  have  a  knowledge  of  useful  kinds  of  records  and  of  many 
sources  of  information  which  blueprints  and  verbal  reviews 
did  not  give. 

Immediately  following  this  "course  of  sprouts,"  the  writer 
became  an  active  member  of  the  Employment  Department, 
interviewed  and  appointed  applicants  and  in  three  months 
(during  which  time  an  office  which  could  be  used  as  a  labora- 
tory was  being  built  and  equipped,  and  preliminaries  to  actual 
experimental  testing,  such  as  collection  and  printing  of  forms, 
etc.,  were  carried  on)  acquired  a  grasp  of  the  local  labor  situa- 
tion, the  sources  of  supply,  the  types,  characteristics  and  social 

25 


26 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


levels  of  applicants  who  presented  themselves,  the  ways  in 
which  appointments  and  judgments  were  made,  etc.,  etc. 

The  following  diagram  illustrates  the  office  laboratory 
which  was  built  where  the  testing  could  be  carried  on  with  the 
minimum  of  noise  and  disturbance. 


\J    {J(*J^>^       ^(U\J 

u 

Dr~  o  if 

* 

<- 

£o  f\ 

^. 

0 
L 
C 

£ 
1 

4 
3 

C 

r 
C 

; 

7 
T 
P 
^ 

„« 

A 

u 

d 

b 

C 

C 

Fig.  3.     Plan  of  office  laboratory. 

a.  Examiner's  Desk  d.  Blackboard  e.  Cupboard 

b.  Bookcase  c.  Windows  f.   Doors 

Before  the  testing  itself  took  place,  meetings  of  the  execu- 
tives, heads  and  assistant  heads  were  called,  at  which  the 
purpose,  plans  and  method  of  the  investigation  were  disclosed 
and  explained  as  simply  as  possible,  and  cooperation  was 
urged.  In  order  to  dispel  prevalent  bugaboos  about  the  nature 
of  mental  tests,  these  executives  were  tested  with  Scale  1A 
5  minutes. 

Obtaining  the  Criteria.  In  view  of  the  unfortunate  waste 
that  has  not  infrequently  occurred  when  after  extensive  tests 
had  been  made,  records  of  work  and  ability  were  unobtainable, 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  27 

it  seemed  wise  to  secure  the  criteria  before  testing,  the  more 
so  that  some  coherent  scheme  of  rating  had  to  be  worked  out 
in  an  organization  where  for  two  thousand  salesclerks  there 
were  as  many  as  200  department  and  section  heads. 

Salesclerks.  Considering  first  the  salesclerks,  two  methods 
of  determining  their  ability  were  available  (1)  the  actual 
weekly  sales  or  production  record  made  by  each  clerk,  (2) 
the  opinions  of  department  heads,  of  which  there  are  for  each 
department 

1.  Buyer. 

2.  Assistant  Buyer. 

3.  Section  Manager  or  Floorman. 

Production  Record.  Since  the  gross  amount  of  sales  varies 
for  each  department  and  from  week  to  week,  according  to 
season  and  weather,  it  was  not  possible  to  throw  all  sales  on 
to  one  scale  for  all  time.  The  following  method  was  used. 

A  simple  frequency  table  was  made  showing  the  sales  for 
each  department  for  each  week.  From  this  the  upper  and 
lower  quartile  limits  were  determined,  and  record  was  made 
for  each  clerk,  whether  he  sold  within  the  interquartile  range, 
above  it,  or  below  it.  Such  a  record  was  kept  for  ten  weeks 
and  from  this  was  determined  whether  a  clerk  sold  character- 
istically within,  above  or  below  the  average  range. 

Ratings.  This  information  was  supplemented  by  the  ratings 
of  department  heads,  which  were  obtained  in  the  following 
manner : 

The  accompanying  form  was  sent  to  each  buyer  and  assist- 
ant buyer  and  section  manager.  From  the  information  so 
gained  it  became  possible  to  group  the  bulk  of  the  selling  force 
into  three  large  categories — the  good,  the  poor  and  the  aver- 
age salesclerks. 
To  M  Sec.  Man. 

Buyer  Dept. 

Please  send  to of  the  Employment  Office,  on 

this  form,  not  later  than ,19 ,  three  lists  of 

employees,  carefully  made  out  according  to  the  following  in- 
structions. 

I.  List  below  the  names  of  as  many  salesclerks  as  you  know 

who  are  now  employees  of  and  who 

represent,  in  your  opinion,  the  most  capable  and  desirable  type 
of  salesclerk. 


28 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


Write  down  only  the  names  of  absolutely  first  class  sales- 
clerks;  those  who  really  are  able  to  sell. 


No. 


NAME 


Remarks 


II.  List  below  the  names  of  as  many  salesclerks  as  you 
know  who  are  exactly  the  opposite  of  the  people  you  have 
just  named,  representing  the  poorest  type  of  salesclerk  with 
little  or  no  selling  ability. 


No. 


NAME 


Remarks 


III.  Place  in  blank  (see  opposite  page)  a  list  of  salesclerks 
who  are,  in  your  opinion,  neither  very  good  nor  very  poor ;  the 
ordinary  type  of  salesclerk  who  is  satisfactory  but  not  excep- 
tional. 

This  loose  form  of  rating  sheet  was  used  in  preference  to 
a  more  rigid  and  detailed  form  for  the  following  reasons : 

(1)  The  department  heads  of  the  organization  under  con- 
sideration are  to  a  great  degree  free  agents.  It  was  essential 
for  the  return  of  the  largest  number  of  these  sheets  with  a 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


Xo. 

NAME 

Remarks 

minimum  amount  of  energy  and  friction  entailed,  that  the 
form  be  filled  out  with  the  utmost  ease. 

(2)  The  department  heads  are  not  an  academic  group — 
the  median  intelligence  lower  than  that  of  such  a  group — 
they  had  consistently  shown  an  aversion  to  any  sort  of  analytic 
thinking  or  patient  arrangement  of  groups  into  rank  order, 
and  such  thinking,  if  forced  upon  them  would  be  of  a  doubtful 
reliability.  It  seemed  on  the  whole  to  be  wisest  to  use  a 
spontaneous  method  of  rating — the  more  so  that  it  would  have 
been  impracticable  to  test  the  entire  force  of  salesclerks. 
Therefore,  by  this  method  of  rating,  the  testing  was  confined 
to  those  individuals  who  were  spontaneously  recalled  in  the 
minds  of  the  several  department  heads  as  meriting  good,  bad 
or  indifferent  ratings. 

The  results  of  this  method  bore  out  the  choice  of  the  course. 
The  forms  were  returned  on  time  and  with  a  minimum  of 
follow-up  work.  The  large  body  of  salesclerks  was  rated  and 
the  undertaking  did  not  lose  in  prestige  by  being  called  super- 
scientific,  impracticable  etc. 

The  judgments  so  obtained  from  these  three  sources,  buyer, 
assistant  buyer  and  section  manager,  were  then  matched  up 
on  the  form  on  page  30. 

All  the  ratings  were  tabulated  on  this  form.  Against  each 
salesclerk's  name  was  placed  in  the  appropriate  column  a  red 
check,  if  called  poor,  a  green  if  good  and  a  black  if  average. 
The  different  rankings  were  further  marked  by  placing  red 
in  the  lower  boxes  only,  green  in  the  upper  and  black  in  the 
middle.  Finally,  under  sales  in  the  first  column  were  placed 


30 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 
Department 


Disc.  No. 

NAME 

Sales 

Buyer 

Ass't 
Buyer 

Section 
Manager 

Remarks 



. 

similar  colored  checks  for  the  predominant  selling  tendency 
over  the  ten  weeks,  as  obtained  from  the  sales  records  as  ex- 
plained above. 

From  this  final  tabulation  several  groups  could  be  dis- 
criminated. 

First,  those  clerks  consistently  rated  by  all  criteria  as  good. 

Second,  those  consistently  rated  poor. 

Third,  those  consistently  rated  as  average. 

Fourth,  those  rated  on  the  whole  as  average  but  with  one 
or  more  judgments  that  they  were  above  average. 

Fifth,  miscellaneous  groups  of  individuals  about  whom 
there  was  no  common  and  consistent  type  of  judgment — those 
rated  as  both  good  and  poor,  for  instance.  These  were  wholly 
omitted  from  the  experiment  because  of  the  inconsistency 
with  which  they  were  rated. 

Clerical.  The  other  large  group  of  employees  engaged  in 
work  of  generally  similar  character  were  the  clerical  workers. 

For  the  same  reasons  and  in  the  same  fashion  as  applied 
to  salesclerks  ratings  of  the  clerical  workers  were  obtained 
previous  to  testing  for  the  three  large  clerical  departments — 
the  Audit,  the  Mail  Order  and  the  Complaint  Department. 
Unlike  the  salesclerks,  however,  there  was  no  common  produc- 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  31 

tion  record  by  which  the  judgments  of  department  heads 
could  be  controlled,  the  clerks  being  engaged  in  a  multiplicity 
of  operations,  from  complicated  statistical  work  and  bookkeep- 
ing, to  counting  of  checks,  filing  and  comptometer  operating. 
Moreover  in  most  cases  the  clerks  were  well  known  to  only 
one  person,  the  local  supervisor,  only  superficially  known  to 
the  actual  department  head  and  very  occasionally  known  to 
as  many  as  three  persons. 

Raters  were  therefore  instructed  to  rate  only  those  clerks 
whom  they  knew  and  the  rates  taken  at  their  face  value,  with 
the  precaution  that  such  clerks  about  whom  there  was  a  wide 
divergence  of  opinion  were  excluded  from  the  possible  sub- 
jects for  experiment,  and  only  such  clerks  included  about 
whom  at  least  two  people  were  agreed. 

The  following  scale  indicates  the  manner  in  which  the  clerks 
were  grouped. 

1.  Rated  as  first  class  by  two  or  more — no  dissenting  opinion. 

2.  Rated  as  first  by  two — 2nd  by  1. 

3.  Rated  as  first  by  one — 2nd  by  1. 

4.  Rated  as  second  by  two — 1st  by  1. 

5.  Rated  as  second  by  two  or  three — no  dissenting  opinion. 

6.  Rated  as  third  by  one — 2nd  by  2. 

7.  Rated  as  three  by  one  and  2nd  by  1. 

8.  Rated  as  three  by  two  and  2nd  by  1. 

9.  Rated  as  three  by  three  or  two — no  dissenting  opinion. 

In  obtaining  ratings  throughout  the  course  of  this  work, 
it  was  noted  that  there  was  a  very  marked  reluctance  to  say 
that  an  employee  was  third  rate  or  unsatisfactory,  for  the 
reason  that  the  executive  giving  such  a  rating  laid  himself 
open  to  the  question  of  why  he  retained  such  a  person.  It 
seemed  fair,  therefore,  to  infer  that  all  clerks  whose  total 
rating  was  more  than  seven,  could  be  included  among  the 
third  rate  clerks,  and  they  were  so  considered.  This  was  also 
done  because  the  number  nine  group  alone  made  up  a  very 
inconsiderable  number.  The  ratings  of  good  clerks,  if  unani- 
mous, were  significant;  of  the  poor  and  mediocre  clerks,  less 
so  because  of  the  hesitancy  to  call  any  one  poor,  and  of  a 
tendency  to  underrate  if  the  clerk  was  unknown  or  doing  un- 
important work,  or  if  but  newly  employed. 

However,  these  ratings,  such  as  they  were,  served  to  indi- 
cate three  groups,  the  very  good  (1)  the  poor  (7-9)  and  the 


32  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

generally  average  clerks  who  were  rated  between  these  two 
extremes. 

Tests.  Through  the  courtesy  of  Prof.  E.  L.  Thorndike  and 
the  National  Research  Council  Committee  sets  of  the  N.  R.  C. 
Tests,  the  precursors  of  the  National  Intelligence  Tests  were 
made  available  for  the  purposes  of  this  investigation. 

These  tests  were : 

1.  Verbal  A  which  consisted  of 

1.  Arithmetic  3.  Verbal  B 

2.  Directions  1.  Computation 

3.  Sentences  2.  Vocabulary 

4.  Synonym  Antonym  3.  Sentence  Completion 

5.  Judgment  4.  Disarranged  Sentences 

6.  Analogies  5.  Logical  Selection 

2.  Non  Verbal  A  4.  Non  Verbal  B 

1.  Picture  Completion.  1.  Copying  Designs 

2.  Series  Completion  2.  Pictorial  Sequence 

3.  Comparison  3.  Pictorial  Identities 

4.  Symbol  Digit  4.  Recognitive  Memories 

5.  Form  Combination 

In  addition  the  following  tests  were  also  used, 

Sentence  Completion  10'  and  5'  time  limits — called  T1A 

Arithmetic — Woody  McCall  Mixed  Fundamentals — called 
T2 

Rearrangement  of  Animals — An  abbreviated  form  of  the 
writer's  test  published  in  June,  1918,  Journal  of  Applied  Psy- 
chology— called  T3 

Woodworth  Wells  Mixed  Relations 

Woodworth  Wells  Mixed  Relations  changed  to  an  under- 
lining test — called  T5 

Woodworth  Wells  Opposites 

Woodworth  Wells  Opposites  changed  to  an  underlining 
test— called  T4 

Woodworth  Wells — Number  group  checking 

Woodworth  Wells — Cancellation 

Testing.  Directions  for  performing  the  tests  were  identical 
for  every  individual. 

The  tests  were  given  to  groups  in  the  laboratory  sketched 
above.  The  testing  was  always  in  the  early  morning — from 

1.    This  is  the  test  called  Scale  1A  in  Part  I. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  33 

9  to  10.30  a.  m.  Meetings  did  not  last  longer  than  90  minutes. 
Subjects  were  recalled  for  a  second  period  if  the  tests  were  not 
completed  in  the  first. 

Before  beginning  any  testing,  the  purpose  and  method  of 
the  work  was  carefully  explained  to  each  group  as  simply  as 
possible.  Discussion  was  perfectly  free  and  testing  was 
never  begun  without  good  feeling  and  rapport  between  the 
subjects  and  the  experimenter.  Pains  were  taken  to  dispel 
any  preliminary  nervousness,  and  to  see  that  all  subjects  took 
the  tests  comfortably.  Both  sexes  and  all  ages  from  17  to  60 
were  represented.  Of  the  salesclerks  there  were  sellers  of 
every  type  of  merchandise  from  upholstery  and  women's  suits 
to  shoes,  veiling,  gloves  and  notions.  Every  phase  of  clerical 
work  at  which  the  employees  of  this  establishment  were  en- 
gaged was  likewise  represented  in  the  test  groups.  There 
were  skilled  typists  and  stenographers,  statistical  workers, 
bookkeepers,  billing  clerks,  comptometer  operators,  check 
counters,  filers,  keepers  of  simple  records,  etc.,  etc. 

For  the  initial  phase  of  the  experiment,  in  which  a  rough 
evaluation  of  the  tests  as  to  their  sensitivity  to  different  de- 
grees of  abilities  was  sought,  only  the  extremes  of  both  groups 
were  used;  that  is,  of  the  salesclerks,  those  were  tested  who 
were  consistently  classed  as  good  and  as  poor;  of  the  clerical 
workers,  those  who,  according  to  the  classification  scheme  indi- 
cated above,  were  classified  as  1,  and  those  who  fell  within  the 
7  to  9  classifications. 

The  average  workers  of  each  group  were  made  use  of  in  a 
later  phase  of  the  experiment. 

Correlation  Formula  and  Statistical  Methods.  Several  cor- 
relation methods  were  used  in  the  course  of  this  work. 

1.  The  method  of  Unlike  Signed  Pairs — discussed  in  Thorn- 
dike's  Mental  and  Social  Measurements,  p.  162,  pp.  170-1 — 
and  called  in  tabulations  and  discussions  in  this  paper  the  U 
Formula. 

2.  Pearson  Biserial  R. — a  formula  which  determines  the 
correlation  when  one  variable  is  measured  and  continuous, 
the  other  unmeasured  and  alternative — and  which  closely  ap- 

2xy     see  Biometrika,  Vol.  VII,  1909, 
proximates  the  r  =   ^-^- 

p.  96. 


34 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


3.  Finally  the  orthodox  Pearson  r  = was  used  in 

no-xo-y 

the  last  phase  of  the  experiment  in  partial  correlation  and 
regression  in  order  to  weigh  the  significant  tests.  When  this 
formula  was  used  the  value  1  was  given  to  a  quality  i.e.,  good 
salesmanship,  and  0  to  the  absence  of  it.2 

The  other  formulas  do  not  necessitate  so  arbitrary  an 
assignment  of  values. 

Correlation  Coefficients — Salesclerks.  Table  II  below  repre- 
sents the  coefficients  which  were  obtained  from  the  salesclerks 
when  the  good  and  the  poor  clerks  were  tested  with  a  series 
of  tests.  The  number  of  clerks  tested,  the  names  of  the  tests 


TABLE  11 
GOOD  AND  POOR  SALESCLERKS 


Number  of 
Cases 

45 

NRG- 

Tests 
-N  V  A     Total 

46 
44 
44 
44 

«    it    « 
<     «    tt 
i     tt    « 

"    "    "  2  Series  Completion 
"    "    "  3  Comparison  3' 
"    "    "  3  Comparison  2' 

43 

"    "    "  4  Symbol  Digit 

44    . 
44 

<     tt    « 

"    "    "  5  Form  Combination 
V  A       Total 

43 

44 
43 

u    it    it 
«    «    « 

"    "  2  Directions 
"    "  3  Sentences 

44 
45 
43 

46 
48 
46 
48 
45 

48 

«    «    tt 

tt     a      tt 

(i      tt     tt 
tt     tt     tt 
tt     ft     ft 
tt     tt     ft 
it     tt     tt 

tt     tt     tt 

"    "  4  Synonym  Antonym 
"    "  5  Judgment 
"    "  6  Analogies 

N  V  B     Total 
"    "    "  1  Copying  Designs 
"    "    "  2  Pictorial   Sequence 
'    "    "  3  Pictorial  Identities 
4    "    "4  Recognitive  Memories 

V  B     Total 

49 
49 
49 
49 
49 

48 
48 
33 
49 
47 
48 
48 
48 

tt     tt     tt 
tt     tt     tt 
tt     tt     tt 
tt     tt     tt 

T  1  A 
T  1  A 
T  2 
W.  W. 
T  4  W. 
W.  W. 
T  5  W. 
T  3 

'    "  2  Vocabulary 
'    "  3  Sentence  Completion 
"  4  Disarranged  Sentences 
1    "  5  Logical  Selection 

Sentence  Completion  10' 
Sentence  Completion     5' 
Arith. 
Opposites 
W.  Opp.  Adapted 
Mixed  Relations 
W.  M.  R.  Adapted 
Rear.  Animals 

2  This  method  of  statistical  treatment  was  suggested 
Kelley,  now  at  Leland  Stanford  University. 


r  by  U 
Formula 

—  .09 

—  .39 
+  .22 

—  .59 

—  .83 
+  .25 

—  .37 

—  .59 

—  .16 

—  .66 

—  .79 

—  .22 

—  .79 

—  .54 

+  .16 

—  .06 
+  .16 

.00 
+  .51 

—  .06 

—  .16 
.00 

—  .34 

—  .28 
.00 

—  .13 

—  .37 

—  .16 

—  .16 

—  .43 

—  .37 

—  .46 

—  .56 

by  Prof.  T.  L. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


35 


and  the  statistical  method  used  to  obtain  the  coefficients  are 
all  indicated. 

Some  of  these  coefficients  are  markedly  high,  also  they  are, 
almost  without  exception,  negative. 

Table  12  presents  coefficients  which  were  obtained  from 
combining  in  various  groups  the  tests  which  singly  gave  the 
highest  coefficients.  (The  coefficient  for  NVA3 — 2'  time  limit 
had  not  been  computed  at  the  time  these  groupings  were  made 
and  the  coefficients  of  Table  12  calculated.  ) 

The  general  tendency,  it  will  be  noticed,  is  to  increase  the 
correlation  coefficient  by  such  combinations  of  tests. 


TABLE  12 
GOOD  AND  POOR  SALESCLERKS'  TESTS  COMBINED 


Number  of 
Cases 
41 
39 
43 
43 
44 

Sum 

ti 

tt 
tt 

V 

tt 

tt 
n 

Test 
A  3  N  VA  3  —  3' 
«  2-3-5-6  N  V  A 
"  3-5 
"  2  and  3 
"  2  and  5 

3  —  3' 

42 

tt 

tt 

"  2  and 

6 

44 

tt 

tt 

1  2  and 

N 

V 

A 

3 

— 

3' 

42 

" 

tt 

'  3  and 

6 

43 

tt 

it 

'  2-3-5 

42 

tt 

tt 

'  5  and 

6 

44 

u 

tt 

'  5  and 

N 

V 

A 

3 



3' 

39 

tt 

tt 

'  6  and 

N 

V 

A 

3 

—  3' 

42 

tt 

tt 

"  2-3-6 

40 

tt 

tt 

"  2-3  N 

V 

A 

3 

— 

3' 

42 

tt 

tt 

"  2-5-6 

40 

tt 

tt 

"  2-5  N 

V 

A 

3 

— 

3' 

rby  U 
Formula 

—  .66 

—  .69 

—  .79 

—  .84 

—  .78 

—  .56 

—  .66 

—  .64 

—  .84 

—  .51 

—  .61 

—  .75 

—  .79 

—  .66 

—  .68 

—  .66 


XXxXX 


Fig.  4. 


36  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Graphically  represented  these  coefficients  take  on  a  more 
concrete  meaning. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  practical  implication  of 
such  a  situation  as  Fig.  4  represents.  Suppose  that  the  forty 
odd  people  represented  by  the  sum  of  the  crosses  and  the  rows 
of  dots  were,  without  any  distinguishing  mark,  seated  in  a 
room.  By  means  of  tests  which  are  represented  in  Fig.  4 
(using  the  position  of  the  arrow  as  a  reference  point)  an  indi- 
vidual would  be  able  to  determine  which  of  the  group  had 
been  successful  and  which  unsuccessful  as  salesclerks,  and 
would  be  in  error  only  8  times  out  of  the  forty-four  cases. 

Clerical.  The  clerical  workers,  good  and  poor,  represented 
by  classifications  1  and  7-9  were  tested  with  the  following 
tests, 

V  A— All 

N  V  A— All 

W.  W.— Cancellation 

W.  W. — No.  gr.  checking 

Rearrangement  of  Animals — T3 

Table  13  which  follows  presents  the  coefficients  which  these 
tests  gave,  the  formula  in  use  being  again  that  of  unlike 
signed  pairs. 

TABLE  13 

Number  of  r  by  U 

Cases  Test  Formula 

59          N  R  C-V  A  .34 

61 
61 


60 
58 
60 


"  1  Arithmetic  .09 

*    "      "    "  2  Directions  .00 

'    "      "    "  3  Sentences  .31 

t    «      «    «  4  Synonym  Antonym  .28 

"    "      "    "  5  Judgment  .37 

50  "    "    "      "    "  6  Analogies  .28 

48          "    "    "    N  V  A  .31 

52          "    "    "      "    "    "  1  Picture  Completion  .13 

52           "    "    "      "    "    "  2  Series  Completion  .22 

51  "    "    "      "    "    "  3  Comparison  2'  .45 
50           "    "    "      "    "    "  4  Symbol  Digit  .37 

52  "    "    "      "    "    "  5  Form   Combination  .00 

34  No.  Gr.  Ch.  .31 

35  Cancel.  —  .13 
57          T  3  .19 

It  is  evident  at  once  that  the  ratios  are  not  as  high  as  those 
obtained  for  the  salesclerks,  the  highest  being  .45  for  N  V  A  3 
the  Comparison  Test.3  However,  it  is  also  immediately  evi- 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  test  gave  the  highest  correlation 
coefficient,  but  a  negative  one,  when  used  with  salesclerks. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  37 

dent  that  these  ratios  are  all  positive,  with  the  one  excep- 
tion of  Cancellation.  Now  it  will  be  remembered  that  the 
N  V  A  and  V  A  tests  were  the  tests  which  gave  the  highest 
correlations  for  salesclerks  but  that  these  ratios  were  almost 
all  consistently  negative. 

It  seems  fair  to  assume  that  had  it  been  possible  to  secure 
clerical  workers  rated  with  the  freedom  from  error  of  the 
salesclerks'  classifications,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  posi- 
tive relationship  is  indicated  by  the  plus  ratios,  that  positive 
correlations  perceptibly  higher  than  those  actually  found 
would  have  been  obtained.  However,  this  is  merely  an  as- 
sumption ;  what  is  apparent  is  the  tendency  for  salesclerks  and 
clericals  to  pull  in  distinctly  opposite  directions,  so  that  we 
have  a  difference  between  trades  as  distinct  as  the  differences 
within  a  trade,  if  not  more  so. 

This  is  a  not  unimportant  consideration,  for  the  primary 
interest  of  an  employment  office  is  not  in  deciding  with  what 
degree  of  excellency  an  unknown  individual  will  perform  a 
given  task,  but  to  decide  at  what  task  to  place  a  given  indi- 
vidual. 

Concretely,  Mary  Jones,  age  18,  without  experience  or  train- 
ing wants  a  job.  The  employment  manager  wants  to  know 
whether  to  make  Mary  Jones  a  salesclerk  or  a  clerical.  To 
him  whether  Mary  Jones  will  rank  fifth  or  first  as  a  salesclerk 
is  a  matter  of  academic  interest  only.  How  good  she  will  be 
is  a  matter  she  must  show  by  performance,  since  in  industry 
as  elsewhere  reward  comes  not  in  anticipation  of  work  but 
follows  it.  Wages  in  a  large  industry  are  fairly  standardized 
at  employment  time,  and  are  modified  not  for  potential  ability 
but  only  for  previous  experience.  They  become  really  differ- 
entiated for  individuals  only  with  the  history  of  an  individ- 
ual's work. 

In  order  to  express  numerically  the  contrary  tendencies  of 
salesclerks  and  clerical  workers,  the  two  groups  were  thrown 
together  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  separate  from  this  het- 
terogeneous  group  those  who  were  called  good  salesclerks  and 
good  clericals. 

Such  a  combination  seemed  to  have  two  virtues,  (1)  the 
reliability  of  the  coefficients  obtained  would  be  increased  be- 
cause the  size  of  the  group  would  be  doubled;  (2)  the  hetero- 
geneity of  the  enlarged  group  more  nearly  approximated  ac- 


38  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

tual  working  conditions.  Candidates  for  employment  as  they 
present  themselves  at  the  office  which  these  tests  were  to  serve 
are  not  divided  off  into  sales  or  clerical  workers  and  often 
have  no  strong  preference  for  any  special  kind  of  work,  but 
must  be  classified  and  selected  for  various  jobs  by  the  indi- 
viduals who  interview  them. 

This  combination  of  both  types  of  workers  was  made  in  two 
ways,  first  all  sales  and  all  clericals  were  combined,  and  selec- 
tion made,  for  (1)  good  salesclerks,  (2)  good  clerical  workers. 
The  second  grouping  was  as  follows.  When  good  salesclerks 
were  being  selected  the  unsatisfactory  clerical  workers  were 
omitted  from  the  total  group  of  sales  and  clericals  for  the  rea- 
son that  there  did  not  seem  to  be  any  ground  to  consider  them 
as  undesirable  candidates  for  selling. 

All  that  was  known  was  that  they  were  undesirable  for 
clerical  work.  Of  course  it  may  be  argued  that  the  retention 
of  the  good  clerical  workers  was  likewise  ungrounded;  that 
there  was  no  reason  why  they  should  not  make  good  sales- 
clerks,  even  if  they  were  good  clerical  workers.  This  is 
doubtless  true.  At  the  same  time,  considering  again  the  prac- 
tical aspect,  they  were  actually  non-sellers,  the  negative-posi- 
tive correlation  findings  seemed  to  indicate  that  also  poten- 
tially they  might  be  non-sellers,  and  it  seemed  to  be  of  interest 
to  see  what  would  happen  to  the  coefficients  already  obtained 
when  such  a  group  as  this  under  discussion  was  made. 

When  the  selection  for  good  clericals  was  made,  the  un- 
satisfactory salesclerks  were  omitted  for  the  same  reasons 
given  for  omitting  unsatisfactory  clerical  workers  when  select- 
ing for  salesclerks. 

Tables  14  and  15  present  the  coefficients  which  were  ob- 
tained from  this  double  grouping.  The  coefficients  which 
were  obtained  from  the  pure  sales  and  pure  clerical  groups 
are  also  given  for  comparison,  so  that  it  may  be  seen  how  the 
coefficients  are  affected  by  the  increased  number  of  subjects 
and  the  different  kinds  of  groups. 

Apparently,  the  elimination  of  the  bad  clericals,  in  the  case 
of  the  selection  for  salesclerks,  was  justified,  for  when  good 
salesclerks  were  selected  from  the  heterogeneous  group  of  all 
salesclerks  and  all  clericals  correlations  were  lower  than  those 
obtained  with  the  salesclerks  only.  However  when  the  poor 
clericals  are  omitted  from  this  heterogeneous  group  and  selec- 
tion then  made  for  good  salesclerks  the  situation  appears  to 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


39 


*z 

T3  C    £ 

So  * 

«  *£ 

«g 

"'I -3 
so  c 


THIOCO^CO^T^COOIO^^ 

--  oo  oo«o 


I  %  \  i  f  I  f  f  1 1 1  f  f  I 


3  ^ 

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T- 
fe  CO  (M  Tf  10  i-J  rf  10  C5  TH  00  O^  O 

I  Ml' I'M  I  I  I  I 


40  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

have  cleared  again,  for  the  coefficients  regain  their  original 
character,  occasionally  being  slightly  higher  or  slightly  lower 
than  in  the  original  classification.  Their  significance  is  how- 
ever increased,  since  their  P.  E.'s  are  decreased,  because  of 
the  increased  size  of  the  group  from  which  they  were  obtained. 

When  good  clericals  were  selected  the  combining  of  all  sales- 
clerks  and  all  clericals  does  not  seem  to  affect  the  coefficients 
markedly,  except  to  raise  them  in  several  instances.  With 
the  clericals,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  waters  were  originally 
muddy,  so  that  an  addition  of  several  more  misplacements 
would  probably  not  have  the  same  disturbing  effect  as  with 
the  salesclerks,  where  the  original  groupings  were  markedly 
clear. 

However,  when  from  the  total  group  the  unsatisfactory 
salesclerks  are  withdrawn  and  selection  then  made  for  good 
clerical  workers,  the  coefficients  are,  with  the  exception  of 
one  case  where  the  ratio  remains  practically  the  same,  raised 
to  a  marked  degree,  and  again  we  seem  to  have  a  justification 
for  having  excluded  the  poor  salesclerks  from  this  group. 

Not  only  are  the  coefficients  raised  but  in  some  cases  they 
become  large  enough  to  promise  a  fairly  satisfactory  basis 
for  the  selection  of  clerical  workers,  something  which  the  size 
of  the  coefficients  obtained  with  the  original  group  of  clericals 
only  did  not  warrant. 

Final  Phase  of  the  Experiment.  Having,  in  the  manner 
above  described,  found  several  tests  which  seemed  sensitive  to 
selling  and  clerical  ability,  it  became  necessary,  in  order  to 
employ  these  tests  for  the  guidance  of  the  Employment  Office, 
to  evaluate  each  test,  in  accordance  with  its  importance  in  the 
group  of  tests.  In  other  words,  it  was  necessary  to  determine 
the  regression  equation  for  the  whole  group  of  tests,  and  the 
best  weighting  for  each  test  in  that  group. 

Most  of  the  tests  however  which  gave  significant  coefficients 
were  in  the  group  of  the  National  Research  Council  Tests. 
These  tests  had  been  constructed  for  use  in  schools  and  their 
content  was  not  especially  adapted  for  industrial  use. 

People  who  are  looking  for  a  job  usually  object  to  being 
asked  who  Black  Beauty  or  Thomas  Jefferson  are  and  are  apt 
to  ask  in  response  "Is  this  a  school  we  are  in?"  Even  if  this 
response  is  not  audible,  such  questions  do  not  result  in  a  very 
favorable  state  of  mind,  and  since  the  success  of  industrial 
tests  is  as  dependent  upon  their  reception  by  the  people  who 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  41 

take  the  tests  as  upon  the  prophetic  accuracy  of  the  tests 
themselves,  new  tests  were  constructed,  in  form  the  same  as 
certain  of  the  N  R  C  Tests,  in  substance  different.  The  atmo- 
sphere savored  more  of  calico,  pins  and  sealing  wax  and  less 
of  George  Washington,  Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  states  of  the 
Atlantic  Seaboard. 

The  test  questions  were  all  placed  on  one  side  of  a  sheet  of 
8%xll  paper,  on  the  reverse  side  of  which  was  a  dotted  line 
for  the  name,  and  several  sample  questions  of  the  test  itself, 
the  samples  being  of  course  so  simple  as  to  be  self-explana- 
tory. The  questions  on  the  test  paper  were  arranged  roughly 
in  an  order  of  increasing  difficulty,  the  earliest  questions  being 
scarcely  more  difficult  than  the  sample  questions. 

A  term  used  by  Link,  "shock  absorber,"  expresses  a  per- 
fectly sound  principle.  Non-academic  groups  have  a  very 
strong  aversion  not  only  to  academic  problems,  but  mental 
gymnastics  of  any  kind,  and  it  is  much  better  for  the  prestige 
of  the  test  to  get  such  people  started  on  primer  tasks  and 
then  imperceptibly  involved  in  the  more  difficult  tasks,  than 
immediately  to  frighten  and  make  them  hostile  with  the  more 
difficult  questions. 

It  was  necessary,  of  course,  after  the  new  tests  had  been 
made  to  ascertain  if  they  would  act  in  the  same  way  as  the 
tests  they  were  meant  to  replace,  that  is,  give  the  same  char- 
acteristic correlation  coefficients. 

This  called  for  more  testing.  It  will  be  recalled  that  in 
originally  getting  classifications  for  the  salesclerks  and  clerical 
workers  there  were  several  groups,  the  very  good,  the  very 
poor,  the  average,  and  the  slightly  better  than  average.  Of 
these  groups  the  extremes,  good  and  poor  of  both  workers 
had  been  tested  in  the  original  phase  of  the  experiment.  The 
clericals  and  salesclerks  who  were  rated  as  average  had  not 
been  tested. 

It  seemed  unwise  to  test  the  original  groups  with  the  new 
tests,  because,  having  spent  some  three  hours  in  test  taking 
they  had  had  an  amount  of  practice  which  made  them  no 
longer  na'ive,  and  also  because  it  was  inadvisable  to  take 
those  who  had  already  lost  a  considerable  period  of  working 
time  away  from  their  departments  for  a  further  period. 

Consequently  the  new  tests  were  standardized  on  the  group 
of  untested  workers,  those  who  made  records  of  average  clerks, 


42  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

or  in  some  cases  somewhat  better,  but  who  were  neither  abso- 
lutely first  rate,  nor  third  rate  workers.  One  hundred  sales- 
clerks  were  tested  and  43  clerical  workers. 

The  new  tests  were  modifications  of  the  NRG  Sentences — 
called  in  the  Tables  T  9,  N  R  C  Directions— T  8,  N  R  C  Com- 
parison— T  13,  N  R  C  Judgment — T  12.  In  addition  Comple- 
tion Test  T  1  A — 10'  time  limit — was  used,  the  adapted  form 
of  Woodworth  Wells  Mixed  Relations — T  5,  and  the  Animal 
Rearrangement  Test — T  3. 

The  formula  which  was  first  used  to  evaluate  these  tests  was 
the  Pearson  biserial  r,  the  clerical  workers,4  43  in  number 
being  considered  the  special  group  and  the  100  salesclerks 
being  considered  non-clerical  workers. 

The  coefficients  obtained  with  these  tests  and  this  group  of 
workers  is  given  below  in  Table  16. 

TABLE  16 
Test  Pearson  Biserial  r  Number 

T     1A  Completion   • 19  143 

T     8     Directions 63  143 

T    9      Sentences    45  143 

T  12      Judgment 55  143 

T  13      Comparison    74  143 

T     3      Rearrangement  of  Animals  .         .11  143 

T    5      Mixed,  Relations 51  143 

With  the  exception  of  T  3  and  T1A  the  coefficients  are 
high  and  the  performance  of  the  two  groups,  sales  and  cleri- 
cal, is  consistent  with  the  performance  of  the  groups  previous- 
ly tested,  the  salesclerks  giving  low  scores,  the  clericals  high 
scores. 

T3  and  T1A  could  therefore  be  omitted  from  any  final 
group  of  tests.  It  was  decided,  in  spite  of  the  size  of  the 
coefficient  of  Test  5,  which  is  W.  W.  Mixed  Relations,  to 
leave  it  out  of  consideration  also,  because  of  the  difficulty 
always  encountered  in  explaining  the  task  and  having  it  un- 
derstood by  those  tested.  With  the  other  tests  it  was  simply 
necessary  for  the  subjects  to  see  and  do  the  sample  problems, 
without  other  explanations  from  the  experimenter.  For  the 
sake  of  economy  in  time  and  effort  in  the  administration  of 

4It  was  at  the  time  impossible  to  test  more  clerical  workers  because  of 
the  Christmas  season  rush. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  43 

the  tests,  when  they  should  be  used  as  part  of  the  employment 
process,  it  seemed  wise  to  discard  this  test,  which  had  to  be 
explained  to  the  majority  of  subjects. 

The  next  step  was  to  find  the  regression  equation  for  the 
group  of  tests  which  were  retained  and  the  best  weighting  for 
each  test. 

The  formulae  in  partial  correlation  and  tests  weightings 


are  derived  from  the  Pearson  coefficient  -  .     The  co- 


efficients  in  Table  16  are  those  of  the  Biserial  r,  which  closely 
approximates  this  r,  but  which  is  not  identical  with  it. 


As  stated  previously,  the  -  values  for  the  new  tests 

no-xo-y 

were  found  by  giving  the  presence  of  sales  ability  the  value  1, 
the  absence  of  it  or  as  was  actually  the  case,  the  presence  of 
clerical  ability  the  value  0,  the  test  scores  forming  the  values 
of  the  second  variable. 

The  regression  equation  was  thus  determined  for  4  variables 
and  the  criterion,  the  variables  being  the  scores  in  the  Direc- 
tions, Comparison,  Judgment  and  Sentence  Tests.  The  weight- 
ing of  the  Sentence  Test  however  was  so  very  inconsiderable 
that  it  was  deemed  inadvisable  to  retain  it  in  the  group  and 
consequently  a  second  regression  equation  was  calculated  in 
which  there  were  only  3  variables  and  the  criterion. 

The  following  regression  equation  was  obtained  using  the 
variables  : 

Xx  The  criterion 
X2  Comparison  test 
X3  Directions  test 
X4  Judgment  test 

X1=.025X2+.065X3-.007X4-.85 

R  for  this  equation  equals  .63 

Biserial  R  equals  .74 

The  manner  in  which,  by  weighting  the  tests  in  accordance 
with  the  regression  equation  above  stated  the  division  between 
the  two  groups,  sales  and  clericals  is  emphasized  is  indicated 
by  the  following  graphs. 


44 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


Graphs  2,  3,  4  represent  the  performance  of  the  sales  and 
clerical  groups  in  single  tests— T18,  T12,  T13.  The  tendency 
for  clericals  to  do  better  work  is  evident  to  some  degree.  A 
great  number  of  misplacements  would  occur  however  if  esti- 
mates of  ability  were  made  by  these  graphs  as  they  stand. 


Graph  V  is  the  sum  of  these  tests.  Here  the  two  groups 
show  a  marked  tendency  to  separate,  but  there  is  considerable 
overlapping. 

Graph  VI  represents  the  tests  weighted  and  combined  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  regression  equation. 

The  overlapping  has  been  diminished — and  the  salesclerks 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


form  a  fairly  clear  characteristic  group,  the  clericals  as  distinc- 
tive a  group. 

After  these  regressions  and  other  calculations  had  been 
made  for  the  43  clerical  workers,  it  became  possible  to  test  20 
more  clerical  workers.  It  seemed  inadvisable  to  recalculate  on 
the  basis  of  the  enlarged  group  the  weightings  as  originally 
found,  but  it  did  seem  of  interest  to  see  what  effect  adding 
these  20  cases  would  have  on  the  coefficient,  when  the  tests 
were  weighted  in  accordance  with  the  values  that  had  been  ob- 
tained from  the  smaller  group. 


46  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Pearson  biserial  r  was  raised  from  .74  with  143  cases  to 
.83  with  163  cases.  Graph  VII  shows  the  increased  emphasis 
on  the  separation  of  the  two  groups. 

Applications.  All  applicants  for  employment,  during  the 
time  in  which  the  experimental  work  above  described  was 
being  carried  on,  were  being  tested  with  the  Scale  1A,  as 
described  in  Part  I,  and  which  served  to  indicate  mental 
defectives  and  subnormal  individuals.  Upon  the  findings  dis- 
cussed above  the  group  of  tests  T8,  T12  and  T13  were  added 
to  the  test  already  in  use  and  all  applicants  who  were  con- 
sidered for  either  selling  or  clerical  workers  were  tested  with 
this  group,  and  placement  made  as  far  as  possible  in  accord- 
ance with  the  characteristic  range  into  which  the  test  scores 
fell,  whether  sales  or  clerical.  The  Completion  Scale  was  still 
retained  and  in  every  case  given  to  the  applicant  before  the 
group  of  tests.  Thus  the  fact  that  a  low  score,  or  one  in  the 
range  characteristic  of  salesclerks  was  due  to  general  men- 
tal inferiority,  and  not  other  causes  was  guarded  against. 

The  tests  have  been  in  use  for  some  time.  In  about  50%' 
of  the  cases  interviewers  have  applicants  tested  before  place- 
ment, the  other  50%  of  the  cases  are  placed  and  then  tested — 
the  placement  being  subject  to  revision  when  the  test  findings 
strongly  contradict  the  placement. 

Applicants  are  tested  generally  by  a  clerical  worker,  who 
works  under  the  direction  of  the  writer  and  has  been  specially 
trained  to  give  and  score  the  tests.  As  many  as  160  appli- 
cants have  been  tested  in  one  day.  Applicants  are  tested 
singly,  or  in  groups  up  to  10. 

The  tests  are  also  used  in  cases  of  personnel  adjustment, 
transfers,  selection  of  candidates  for  training  classes,  etc. 

A  careful  follow-up  by  rating  and  production  record  is  being 
carried  on  in  order  to  check  the  test  records  with  actual  work. 
These  are  not  yet  in  such  a  form  that  findings  can  be  presented 
statistically,  but  on  the  whole,  from  a  rough  survey  of  the 
evidence  at  hand  and  from  isolated  cases  which  have  come  in 
for  special  attention  the  findings  reported  above  tend  to  be 
borne  out.1 

Subsequent  to  the  first  publication  of  these  results  the  writer  was 
able  to  make  a  rough  check  on  the  tests.  Of  12  applicants  employed  as 
salesclerks  whose  tests  indicated  clerical  ability,  4  were  found  to  be  com- 
pletely unsuccessful,  as  judged  by  the  quarterly  ratings  of  department 
heads  and  the  sales  record;  whereas  of  58  applicants  employed  for  the 
same  work  whose  tests  indicated  selling  ability  only  6  were  unsuccessful. 
The  ratios  are  about  1  in  three  and  1  in  ten. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  47 

Summary.  In  a  large  department  store  methods  of  obtain- 
ing reliable  criteria  for  work  ability  of  salesclerks  and  clerical 
workers  were  carefully  developed:  Workers  were  grouped 
into  three  classifications,  very  good,  poor  and  average,  and 
tested  with  a  series  of  mental  tests ;  only  those  workers  being 
tested  who  were  consistently  placed  in  one  of  these  three  classi- 
fications by  all  available  criteria. 

The  good  and  poor  salesclerks  when  tested  gave  negative 
coefficients  of  correlation;  some  markedly  high.  Similar 
groups  of  clerical  workers  likewise  tested  gave  positive  corre- 
lations, not  so  high. 

When  the  two  groups  of  workers,  sales  and  clerical,  were 
combined,  the  good  workers  of  each  type  could  be  selected 
from  the  heterogeneous  group  by  test  marks,  generally  with 
accuracy  as  great  or  greater  than  from  the  homogeneous 
group.  This  was  especially  true  if  the  poor  workers  of  one 
group  were  omitted  when  selecting  for  the  good  of  the  other. 

New  tests  were  devised  which  were  similar  in  form  to  those 
that  gave  the  highest  correlations.  These  tests  differed  in 
content  by  being  less  academic,  more  industrial.  These  and 
several  tests  in  their  original  form  were  given  to  a  group  of 
100  average  salesclerks  and  43  average  clerical  workers.  The 
relationship  between  the  two  groups  which  had  obtained  with 
the  original  tests  and  the  original  groups  tested  held  with  the 
new  tests  and  the  new  groups. 

The  regression  equation  was  determined  for  the  three  tests 
which,  taken  singly,  gave  the  best  correlations — T8,  a  Direc- 
tion Test,  T12,  a  Judgment  Test  and  T13,  a  Comparison  Test. 
The  best  weightings  for  these  tests  when  combined  were  thus 
determined. 

Biserial  r  for  this  group  of  tests  and  the  group  of  143 
workers  was  .74.  Twenty  additional  cases,  clerical  workers, 
raised  the  coefficient  to  .83. 

These  tests  are  now  being  used  in  connection  with  the  em- 
ployment of  sales  and  clerical  workers. 

In  presenting  this  record  of  the  work  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  tests  for  special  ability,  the  writer  is  not  unaware  of 
the  fact  that  much  of  the  procedure  and  handling  of  the 
data  varies  from  orthodox  laboratory  methods.  Ideal  labora- 
tory conditions,  are  however  rarely,  if  ever,  possible  to  an 
industrial  psychologist,  who  must  make  what  shift  he  can. 


48  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

The  exigencies  of  the  occasion  are  therefore  offered  as  an 
excuse  for  the  departures  from  the  orthodox.  That  in  spite 
of  necessarily  improvised  methods  certain  relationships  were 
seen  to  hold  consistently  true,  might  in  itself  be  offered  as  an 
"end  justifying  the  means"  excuse. 

The  findings  are  presented,  for  comment  and  criticism,  and 
with  the  thought  that,  in  the  light  of  the  present  scarcity  of 
work  on  tests  for  special  abilities,  the  greater  scarcity  of  lit- 
erature on  the  same  subject,  and  a  certain  feeling  of  discour- 
agement which  has  recently  become  associated  with  work  in 
this  field,  the  history  of  this  work  would  possess  some  interest. 

NOTE. — It  should  be  noted  in  connection  with  the  individuals  tested 
in  this  experiment,  that  they  possessed  one  attribute  in  addition  to  that 
of  ability  or  disability  at  a  special  job,  that  attribute  being  permanency 
as  workers.  The  workers  were  rated  in  June,  sales  records  were  begun 
from  May,  the  testing  lasted  into  January  of  the  following  year  and  rat- 
ings were  unobtainable  for  workers  who  had  not  been  employed  for 
some  length  of  time  previous  to  June.  Consequently  only  such  individ- 
uals could  have  been  included  among  those  tested  as  were  fairly  per- 
manent workers.  Stability  is  as  important  a  quality  in  a  satisfactory 
employee  as  ability  itself. 

It  is  conceivable  that  any  superior  individual,  making  in  the  tests 
a  score  beyond  the  range  of  both  clerical  workers  or  salesclerks  would 
do  excellent  work  at  either  job.  It  is  however  (since  promotion  can  of 
necessity  come  only  to  a  limited  number),  highly  inconceivable  that 
such  an  individual  would  remain  for  more  than  the  briefest  period  at 
such  work  as  department  store  salesclerks  or  clerical  workers  are  called 
upon  to  perform,  day  after  day,  and  such  individuals  could  hardly  be 
counted  on  to  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  5,000  workers  who  carry  on  the 
business  of  such  an  organization. 


CHAPTER  II— THE  NEGATIVE  CORRELATIONS 

The  negative  correlations  which  were  found  to  exist  between 
sales  ability  and  test  performance  are  sufficiently  unique  to 
merit  an  attempt  at  an  explanation. 

The  writer  believes  these  negative  correlations  result  from 
a  combination  of  two  sets  ol  circumstances ;  the  first,  that  the 
body  of  employees  in  this  organization  are  a  selected  group 
from  which  the  more  able  have  eliminated  themselves  because 
of  working  conditions,  and  the  second,  that  certain  character 
traits  which  the  tests  do  not  measure  play  an  important  role 
in  successful  selling  of  the  type  under  consideration. 

In  what  manner  these  two  sets  of  circumstances  might  work 
together  to  bring  about  an  inverse  relationship  between  sales 
ability  and  test  performance  is  more  fully  considered  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

It  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  fully  recognized  at  the 
present  time  that  the  tests  in  common  use  and  which  measure 
what  is  known  as  general  intelligence  do  not  thereby  measure 
the  total  personality;  that  there  are  certain  components  left 
unmeasured  to  which  the  name  of  character  traits  is  common- 
ly ascribed.* 

If  we  call  a  certain  combination  of  such  character  traits  by 
the  name  "social  aptitude"  then,  with  respect  to  two  compon- 
ents of  the  total  personality,  general  intelligence  and  social 
aptitude,  any  population  can  be  arranged  in  a  fourfold  classi- 
fication thus ;  (calling  general  intelligence  G.  I.  and  social  ap- 
titude S.  A.  and  using  plus  and  minus  with  respect  to  the  cen- 
tral tendency  of  each  component) . 

1-  Those  with  plus  G.  I.  and  plus  S.  A. 

2-  Those  with  minus  G.  I.  and  plus  S.  A. 

3-  Those  with  plus  G.  I.  and  minus  S.  A. 

4-  Those  with  minus  G.  I.  and  minus  S.  A. 

Even  if  the  two  qualities  are  considered  to  be  positively 

*R.  S.  Woodworth,  Dynamic  Psych.   Chapter  8. 

E.  L.  Thorndike,  Intelligence  and  Its  Uses,  Harper's  Mag.,  1920,  CXL, 
227-235. 

A.  T.  Poffenberger,  Measures  of  Intelligence  &  Character,  J.  of  Phil, 
1922,  XIX,  No.  10,  261-266. 

Symposium  on  Intelligence  J.  Ed.  Psych.  1921,  Nos.  3,  4,  5. 
1921,  Nos.  3,  4,  5. 

49 


50  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

correlated  to  the  extent  of  .50  it  may  be  computed  from  a  table 
of  the  distribution  of  the  arrays  of  successive  tenths  of  the 
group,  when  r  equals  .50  that  of  every  1,000  individuals  there 
will  be  337  who  will  have  unlike  signs  in  the  two  traits.* 

Now  let  us  make  the  assumption  that  sales  ability  is  posi- 
tively related  to  that  combination  of  character  traits  to  which 
we  have  chosen  to  give  the  name  of  social  aptitude. 

Recent  work  upon  salesmen,  although  not  upon  department 
store  salesclerks,  lends  some  color  to  this  hypothesis.  **M.  J. 
Ream  found  that  a  series  of  the  Downey  will-temperament 
tests  made  over  into  a  group  test  are  of  positive  value  in  pre- 
dicting success  in  selling  insurance. 

***B.  V,  Moore,  working  with  graduate  engineers,  reports 
that  in  his  avocational  interests  "  .  .  .  .  the  sales  type  of  man 
was  more  interested  in  the  social  sports."  The  same  writer 
further  found  that  at  college  the  sales  engineers  did  their  best 
work  in  social  sciences. 

The  present  investigation  shows  that  sales  ability  is  nega- 
tively related  to  tests  that  have  the  general  character  of  intel- 
ligence tests.  Then  referring  to  the  fourfold  classification 
made  above  with  respect  to  the  two  attributes,  intelligence  and 
social  aptitude,  a  good  salesclerk,  in  accordance  with  the  as- 
sumption that  social  aptitude  is  positively  associated  with  sales 
ability,  can  be  represented  by  the  symbols  -G.  I.  +  S.  A.t_ 

In  speaking  of  a  "good"  salesclerk,  particularly  when~the 
criterion  for  goodness  is  based  upon  ratings,  one  fact  should 
not  be  neglected.  A  "good"  salesclerk,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  management,  is  a  salesclerk  who  not  only  is  able  to  sell, 
but  also  is  content  to  sell.  The  satisfied  worker  is  the  stable 
worker.  Kelley  has  called  attention  to  this  factor  of  satisfy  - 
ingness  when  he  says  thatft  the  successful  pursuit  of  a  trade 


*  Computed  from  a  set  of  unpublished  tables  received  from  Professor 
E.  L.  Thorndike,  showing  the  distribution  of  the  arrays  of  successive 
tenths  of  the  group  for  various  values  of  r. 

**M.  J.  Ream,  Group  Will  Temperament  Tests,  J.  Ed.  Psych,  1922, 
XIII,  7-16. 

***B.  V.  Moore,  Personnel  Selection  of  Graduate  Engineers,  Psych. 
Monog.  Vol.  XXX,  Whole  No.  133,  1921. 

fin  connection  with  locating  the  salesclerks  in  the  negative  quadrant 
with  respect  to  intelligence  it  might  be  noted  that  Moore,  in  his  study 
(see   above)    found   that   of   all   the   engineers   tested   by   him   with   a 
general  intelligence  test,  the  lowest  scores  were  made  by  the  sales  en- 
gineers. 

ffT.  L.  Kelley,  Principles  Underlying  the  Classification  of  Men.  J. 
Applied  Psych.,  1919,  XIII,  50-67. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  61 

demands  among  other  things  a  certain  willingness  to  perform 
the  duties  of  the  trade.  And  this  willingness  can  be  consid- 
ered to  extend,  not  only  to  the  duties  themselves,  but  also  to 
the  conditions  under  which  the  duties  must  be  performed.  If 
the  conditions  are  disagreeable  or  rigorous  in  any  way,  if 
wages  are  low  or  the  working  day  and  week  long — and  these 
conditions  at  least  may  be  considered  as  existing  in  the  pres- 
ent instance — then  it  seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  of  any 
group  of  individuals  employed  to  work  under  such  conditions, 
the  most  able  will  be  the  least  satisfied.  By  reason  of  their 
superior  ability  they  will  tend  to  be  the  most  able  to  secure 
jobs  elsewhere  either  more  agreeable  in  themselves  or  under 
more  favorable  conditions. 

The  scores  on  Scale  1A-10  minute  of  several  groups  of 
salesclerks  classified  according  to  their  length  of  employment 
show  this  actually  to  be  the  case.  Table  17  gives  the  median 
and  range  of  the  middle  fifty  per  cent  for  salesclerks  who  had 
resigned  after  only  1,  2  or  3  months  of  employment  and  for  a 
group  of  salesclerks  who  were  still  working  after  an  interval 
of  two  years  or  more.  The  difference  between  the  scores  of 
the  stable  and  unstable  groups  is  very  noticeable. 

TABLE  17 

Showing  Duration  of  Employment  and  Scale  1A-10'  Scores 
Ql  M  Q3       No.  of  cases 


1  month 

33 

37 

41 

119 

2  months 

32 

39 

43 

34 

3  months 

30 

35 

40 

60 

2  yrs.  or  more 

25 

29 

35 

41 

Now  returning  to  the  fourfold  classification  previously 
made  on  the  basis  of  the  attributes,  general  intelligence  and 
social  aptitude,  and  to  the  hypothesis  that  selling  ability  is 
positively  correlated  with  social  aptitude,  consider  the  first 
classification,  the  plus  G.  I.  plus  S.  A.,  made  up  of  individuals 
who  are  positive  with  respect  to  the  C.  T.  in  both  qualities. 
Such  individuals  represent  the  most  able  of  this  fourfold  class- 
ification, for  they,  and  they  alone  possess  both  qualities  in  a 
positive  degree. 

Following  the  data  and  argument  concerning  the  relative 
stability  of  the  less  and  more  able  employees,  such  individuals 


52  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

will  tend  to  eliminate  themselves  most  rapidly  from  this  or- 
ganizations. They  will  do  so  not  because  they  are  not  able  to 
perform  the  duties  of  the  trade,  but  because  they  are  the  least 
willing  to  perform  these  duties  under  the  conditions  which  ob- 
tain in  the  trade,  or  because  the  duties  themselves  are  irksome. 

The  group  classified  as  -G.  I.  -S.  A.  on  the  other  hand,  who 
are  unfortunate  enough  to  possess  neither  intelligence  nor  the 
necessary  character  traits,  will  not  tend  to  eliminate  them- 
selves, perhaps,  but  will  be  the  most  rapidly  eliminated  by  the 
management. 

Thus  the  two  groups  which  are  left  as  the  most  stable  are 
the  groups  with  unlike  signs  with  respect  to  the  two  attributes 
under  consideration.  It  has  already  been  shown  how  one  of 
these,  the  -G.  I.  -f-S.  A.  could  be  considered  to  represent  the 
good  salesclerks.  For  the  same  reasons  the  other  group,  the 
*+G.  I.  -S.  A.  can  be  considered  to  represent  the  poor  sales- 
clerks.  If  two  such  groups  were  tested  with  tests  which 
measured  only  the  factors  entering  into  general  intelligence, 
it  is  plain  that  a  negative  relationship  would  appear ;  the  good 
salesclerks  would  do  poor  test  work,  the  poor  salesclerks  good 
test  work. 

That  the  subjects  of  this  investigation  were  essentially 
stable  employees,  the  footnote  on  page  48  points  out.  That 
they  had,  therefore,  a  certain  contentment  with  the  situation 
they  were  in  would  seem  naturally  to  follow.  There  is  direct 
evidence — see  Table  17 — that  individuals  of  superior  ability, 
at  least  so  far  as  performance  on  Scale  1A  indicates  it,  tend  to 
be  less  stable  in  this  organization  and  at  this  job. 

It  is  the  writer's  belief  that  the  subjects  of  this  investiga- 
tion actually  did  belong  to  two  groups  which  were  of  unlike 
sign  with  respect  to  the  attributes  general  intelligence  and  so- 
cial aptitude,  and  that  the  negative  correlations  resulted  from 
the  fact  that  these  groups  were  tested  with  tests  which  meas- 
ured only  the  first  of  these  attributes.  It  remains  for  further 
investigation  to  determine  if  another  kind  of  intelligence, 
that  related  to  social  aptitude,  occurs  in  these  or  similar  sub- 
jects in  accordance  with  the  hypothesis. 


*It  might  be  expected  that  of  these  two  groups  the  -f-G.  I.  -S.  A.  would 
be  the  less  stable.  Such,  in  fact,  was  the  case,  for  during  the  course  of 
the  investigation  there  was  great  difficulty  in  reaching  the  salesclerks 
who  had  been  classified  as  poor  in  time  to  test  them.  Although  employed 
long  enough  to  receive  ratings  and  a  production  record,  they  were  con- 
stantly leaving  in  the  interval  that  elapsed  before  testing. 


STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY  53 

NOTE  :  The  fact  that  working  conditions  exercise  a  certain  influence  on 
the  character  of  the  group  of  workers  has  certain  bearings  upon  the  re- 
sults that  may  be  expected  from  investigations  within  the  same  organiza- 
tion at  different  times  or  within  different  organizations. 

If  the  groups  are  of  the  same  character,  similar  results,  of  course,  may 
be  expected.  But  any  change  in  the  management  or  in  policy,  an  in- 
crease or  decrease  in  wages  or  in  working  hours  is  likely  to  be  reflected 
in  the  selection  of  workers.  So  trivial  a  matter  as  a  generous  or  par- 
simonious use  of  fresh  paint  would  not  be  without  its  effect. 

The  use  of  tests  themselves  for  selective  purposes  is  no  small  factor 
in  changing  the  character  of  the  workers.  That  is  indeed  their  pur- 
pose. The  group  becomes  more  homogeneous  with  respect  to  whatever 
is  measured  by  the  test.  The  employment  manager  and  his  assistants 
are  not  unaffected  by  the  use  of  tests  even  when  they  are  not  guided  by 
them,  for,  when  applicants  are  employed  contrary  to  test  indications, 
they  are  likely  to  be  more  carefully  selected  for  that  reason. 

And,  in  so  far  as  the  labor  supply  of  an  organization  is  conditioned  by 
the  character  of  the  people  who  already  work  there,  that  is,  in  so  far  as 
applicants  are  friends  or  relatives,  or  friends'  friends  or  relatives' 
friends  of  employees,  in  so  far  would  the  use  of  tests  change  even  the 
character  of  the  labor  supply. 

It  follows  from  these  considerations  that  the  results  of  an  industrial 
research  may  need  to  be  constantly  revised  in  order  to  keep  pace  with 
the  changing  character  of  the  personnel.  The  investigator  will  need  to 
be  cognizant  of  the  changes  as  they  take  place  so  as  to  keep  his  investi- 
gation abreast  of  them. 


CHAPTER  III— THE  PSYCHOLOGIST  IN  INDUSTRY 

In  the  preceding  chapters  very  little  has  been  said  about  the 
place  of  the  psychologist  in  industry.  Perhaps  little  needs  to 
be  said.  Provided  his  tools  be  adequate  the  psychologist  can 
function  in  any  situation  in  which  a  judgment  concerning  a 
human  being  is  called  f  on  The  task  is  now  to  create  and  per- 
fect tools. 

The  tests  which  have  been  discussed  in  these  pages  func- 
tioned chiefly  in  connection  with  the  activities  of  employment 
and  education.  Under  the  former  they  were  used  in  the  selec- 
tion of  applicants  for  employment  and  their  proper  placement, 
in  cases  of  promotion,  transfer  and  wage  adjustment;  under 
the  latter  in  the  selection  of  employees  for  special  training  and 
opportunity  classes.  There  were  in  addition  a  number  of 
miscellaneous  ways  in  which  the  tests  were  of  use. 

In  exact  form  the  manner  in  which  tests  will  function  will 
vary,  of  course,  from  one  organization  to  another,  depending 
upon  such  factors  as  its  size  and  structure  and  other  individ- 
ual characteristics. 

Tests  for  general  intelligence  have  a  certain  usefulness  in 
the  industrial  situation.  They  may  be  used  to  set  limits  be- 
tween which  would  lie  the  optimum  degree  of  intelligence  for 
any  given  occupation,  when  all  the  factors  which  combine  to 
make  a  satisfactory  employe  are  taken  into  consideration.  In 
any  case,  a  knowledge  of  the  general  level  of  ability  of  an  in- 
dividual seems  to  be  fundamental  to  intelligent  action  con- 
cerning the  individual.  A  priori  generalizations,  however, 
upon  the  course  of  action  based  upon  such  knowledge  should 
of  course  not  be  made.  For  witness  the  fact  that  in  these 
studies,  in  different  situations,  postive  and  negative  associa- 
tion, and  the  absence  of  association,  have  all  been  found. 

In  choosing  or  constructing  tests  for  industrial  use  the  in- 
vestigator will  generally  need  to  be  mindful  of  certain  con- 
siderations in  addition  to  customary  ones.  These  involve 
chiefly  the  time  factor,  the  simplicity  of  administration  and 
scoring  ,the  relevancy  of  the  test  content  to  the  industrial  sit- 
uation, and  the  difficulty  of  the  task  as  related  to  the  intellec- 
tual status  of  the  individuals  tested. 

55 


56  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

In  evaluating  the  tests  it  will  probably  be  necessary  to  be 
at  some  pains  to  make  the  criteria  of  ability  reliable.  Very 
few  organizations  have  personnel  records  that  are  acceptable 
to  the  psychologist.  Yet  a  true  evaluation  of  the  tests  is  di- 
rectly conditioned  by  the  reliability  of  the  criteria.  The  first 
work  of  the  psychologist  is  then  very  likely  to  involve  the  cre- 
ation of  a  system  of  personnel  and  production  records,  or  the 
radical  revision  of  an  existing  system. 

Such  a  system  of  records,  evolved  as  a  by-product  to  the 
evaluation  of  certain  tests  and  for  the  use  of  the  psychologist, 
is  also  of  interest  and  value  to  the  organization  in  general. 
In  developing  them  the  psychologist  has  a  field  of  usefulness 
that  is  in  addition  to  the  application  of  tests. 


APPENDIX 

SCALES  1  AND  1A 
Scale  1 

1.  We  like  good  boys  .......  girls. 

2.  Men older  than  boys. 

3.  I  like  to  go  to 

4.  The  kind  lady the  poor  man  a  dollar. 

5.  Good  boys kind   ....   to  their  sisters. 

6.  Boys  and soon  become  and  women. 

7.  Time often  more  valuable money. 

8.  The  poor  baby as  if  it  were sick. 

9.  Children  should many  lessons  from parents. 

10.  The  child the  river was  drowned. 

11.  The are  often  more  contented the  rich. 

12.  She if  she  will. 

13.  It  is  good  to  hear voice friend. 

14 the  weather  is one  should  wear  heavier 

than  when  it  is 

15.  The  poor  little has nothing  to ;  he  is 

hungry. 

16.  Worry never  improved  a  situation  but  has made 

conditions 

17.  It  is  very to  become acquainted persons 

who timid. 

18.  The of  your and  mother  is  your  brother. 

19.  One's do always  express  his  thoughts. 

20.  To many  things ever  finishing  any  of  them  .... 

a   habit. 

21.  The  knowledge  of use  fire  is of 

important  things  known  by but  unknown animals 

22.  The   seems   and  dreary   dis- 

conditions 

23 that  are to  one  by  an friend  should  be 

pardoned   readily  than  injuries  done  by  one   

is  not  angry. 

24.  In  order clearly  at it  is to 

artificial 

25.  It  is that  a  full-grown  man see  a  ghost 

he  is 

Scale  1A 

1.  The  sky blue. 

2.  Ice  is  cold,  but  fire  is 

3.  I to  school  each  day. 

4.  The   plays   her  dolls  all  day. 

5.  The  girl  fell  and her  head. 

6.  The  wind the  dust  into  our  eyes. 

The  boy  will his  hand  if plays  with  fire. 

The rises the  morning  and at  night. 

9.    The  boy  who hard do  well. 

10.  Hot  weather  comes  in  the and weather » 

the  winter. 

11.  Children to  pick 

12.  A drink  is  very  refreshing  to  a who  is 


57 


58  STUDIES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

13.  It  is  a task  to  be  kind  to  every  beggar 

for  money. 

14.  Men more to  do  heavy  work women. 

15.  It  is  hard keep getting on  a  rainy  day. 

16.  When   one    angry   he   should    forth   an   effort 

his  actions. 

17.  In to  maintain health  one  should  have  nourish- 

ing   

18.  A  home  is   merely  a  place    one   live 

comfortably. 

19.  Sleep both and  body. 

20.  The is  always  shining   storm  clouds  sometimes 

it us. 

21.  When  two  persons   about  which  neither  under- 

stands, they almost to  disagree. 

22.  Extremely  old    sometimes    almost  as    

care  as  

23.  It  is  sometimes    to    between  two    of 

action. 

24.  The  least  difficult   are  by  no   always  the  most 

,    are  the    tasks    the  most 

disagreeable. 

25 they    us    not,  nature's    are 

and  unchangeable. 


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VITA 

ELSIE  OSCHRIN  BREGMAN.  Born  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  November 
30,  1896.  Educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey. 
Diploma  of  graduation  from  Dickinson  High  School,  1914.  Barnard 
College,  Columbia  University,  B.  A.,  1918.  Statistical  Division  of  the 
Quartermasters  Corps,  U.  S.  A.,  1918.  Psychologist,  Guardian  Life  In- 
surance Company,  1918-1919.  Psychologist,  R.  H.  Macy  &  Company, 
1919-1921.  Graduate  Student,  Columbia  Univ.,  Department  of  Psychol- 
ogy, 1921-1922. 

Previous  Publications.  Vocational  Tests  for  Retail  Saleswomen,  J. 
Appl.  Psych.  June,  1918. 

The  Application  of  Psychological  Tests  and  Rating  Scales  in  Industry. 
National  Association  of  Corporation  Training,  Ninth  Annual  Proceed- 
ings, 1921. 

A  Stu^v  in  Industrial  Psychology — Tests  for  Special  Abilities.  J. 
Appl.  I^ych.  June,  1921. 

A  Scientific  Plan  for  Sizing  Up  Employees.    System.    June,  1922. 


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